Golden Leaves
by Zelha
Summary: First, some punk stole her purse; then, her car exploded. Now Sakura finds herself willingly trapped by a soft smile and the mysterious dark eyes of her seemingly dull rescuer. YamaSaku, AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own, kthxbai. I do own a weird Uchiha ring, I got it yesterday.

-X-

**Golden Leaves**

-X-

**Summary:** First, some punk stole her purse; then, her car exploded. Now Sakura finds herself willingly trapped by a soft smile and the mysterious dark eyes of her seemingly dull rescuer.

-X-

**Chapter 1: **

-X-

"Are you going to pay attention sometime today, Forehead? I'd like to die by the end of this afternoon."

"Kami-sama, Ino-pig! Why do you have to be such a drama queen? That was just a Braxton Hicks contraction, for God's sake. It's false, your water hasn't broke and your baby is perfectly fine."

The very pregnant and blonde woman recoiled in the hospital gurney, blinking her already tearing blue eyes. "I'm sorry... it's just that I'm so scared of having the baby when Genma isn't around..."

The medic rolled her eyes but felt a pang of guilt at seeing her best friend so worked up. "Oh, Ino. Genma comes back tomorrow, right? Don't worry yourself with birthing thoughts just yet. You aren't due for another two weeks, see? It's written here," she finished, showing the mother-to-be the chart where she had been recording all the progress of her best friend's pregnancy.

"Now I feel like an idiot," the blonde continued, crossing her arms over her swollen belly. "It wasn't enough that the moron of a husband I have called to tell me he will be delayed for another week, no, now I have to bear with these false contractions?"

"The Braxton Hicks contractions help prepare your body for labor, Ino," the woman in white coat standing next to her explained, with an amused smile on her lips. "Your cervix needs to be stretched and softened in order to allow that little one pass to this world. Believe me, there's no comparison between a Braxton Hicks and a real contraction."

"Sakura, I need my epidural when the moment comes," she said grasping the medic's arm. "You know this will be hellish for me, don't you dare to leave me to my pain!"

"Ino, don't be ridiculous, the epidural anesthesia will be ready for you when you arrive. Now can we please stop talking anxious nonsense? I need to get out of here; your perfume makes me sneeze."

"Fine, but please keep your cellphone on?"

"Okay, Pig, I'll be in touch," she accepted. "Now behave at Hinata's home and quit whining."

"Thank you, Forehead!"

Closing the door of the examination room, the medic sighed deeply, shaking her head.

It wasn't the first time that her blonde and obnoxious friend had come all the way down to the hospital screaming that she was having her baby. After the third time, it was just merely routine for the Emergency staff, which only had to take a look at Ino to make the call to her office. The two first times she had been in the OR.

The first one she was doing a heart surgery, which had her pretty much stressed out for the complications that her patient had presented during her preparations for said surgery. The woman had been more than nervous, and Sakura had to use all her reserves of patience to deal with the spooked patient.

Understandably, she had none left when the ER called her through the intercom and relayed some information about a frantic pregnant blonde, who currently was crying loudly for the medic that had her hand inside a patient, massaging a precious muscle called the heart.

After sending one of her colleagues, Shizune, to check on Ino while she finished the surgery, she almost threw the scalpel like a dart to the intercom when she informed about the falseness of the labor.

The second time she was repairing an inflamed appendix on a middle-aged man, who chuckled at her when he heard all the commotion that leaked out the intercom. This time Sakura had her patience reserves full, but the constant nagging of her conscious patient during the intervention served to drain her quite rapidly, resulting in another set of cutting remarks thrown at the intercom, which were heard quite clearly by the blonde woman.

The third time was almost a week ago. Thankfully, she was doing her rounds and happened to be near the Emergency Room when she was informed of the bustled arrival of her friend. Deciding to tackle the situation once and for all, she had snapped at Ino, without thinking about her husband's absence. Of course she was feeling scared, the stupid dimwit had gotten himself caught in his project and had missed the plane.

This fourth time was Sakura herself who received the whimpering pregnant mass that called herself Shiranui Ino, leading her to an examination room and thus bickering with her as she confirmed once more her suspicions regarding the blonde's contractions.

"You seem stressed," observed one of the ER Attendants, Izumo. She rubbed the back of her neck as they walked towards the main ER Station, the center of activity and where the medics and the nurses were coordinated by a grim man who never got up from the desk and preferred to address at everybody by hollering at them.

"It's the third time this month that Ino barges in screaming about labor when she only has Braxton Hicks," she explained, hearing Izumo's chuckles as she spoke. "Hey, it's not funny. One of these days she's going to barge in the middle of a brain surgery, I swear."

"Is her first pregnancy?" asked the doctor. "It's not common for a first mother to have that many Braxton Hicks so close to her term."

"It's her first, yeah, but she had some intake of hormones before she discovered her pregnancy," the female medic said, rolling her eyes and removing the scrunch that kept her hair bound to the nape of her neck. "She was about to get a boob-job when she found out. She almost tore a new one at her husband for his marvelous timing, just before the Fall Collection."

"Oh! So that's why her face is so familiar! She's Yamanaka Ino, the Konoha's Secret model," said the brown-haired man with wide eyes. "Kami, how changed she is!"

"She's pregnant, Kamizuki. What do you think? And her name changed to Shiranui Ino some years ago."

"Shiranui?" the man repeated, pursing his lips and placing a finger on them thoughtfully. "Shiranui Genma, the famous playboy and model for the Kunoichi magazine? Whoa, I didn't know they were married," he commented as they neared the ER Station.

"As much as we want to hear all the details, Dr. Kamizuki and Dr. Haruno, we are trying to run this Emergency Room the best we can and we are currently short of free time," the voice of the leader of the ER, Root Danzou, droned from his position at the front desk. "There was a car crash in the Ichiraku Highway, so be prepared," he added, sliding four metallic charts down the counter at the pair of medics, which caught them deftly, already used to his harsh antics.

"And here I thought I could come back up to the OR's," Sakura whispered as they walked down the hallway until they reached the waiting room for visitors. Quickly locating the two persons she was looking for, she turned to Izumo with a mock glare. "By the way, hit on her and I will extirpate your tonsils with a dessert spoon, are we clear?"

The man nodded, rising his hands in defeat and withdrawing to a Triage curtain, his two charts in hand.

"Sakura-chan!" the brunette rose from her seat to embrace the doctor. "We haven't seen you in three weeks! How have you been?"

"Pretty much chained to this hospital, but I'm okay with that," she answered, trying to smooth her hair with her running fingers.

"Here, Sakura-chan," added the second woman, rising and after the embrace, extending a comb with the other took gratefully. "Is Ino okay? Is she in labor?"

"Nah, she's just a big baby, Hinata," she grumbled as she caught a stubborn tangle in her mane. "I keep telling her that she is not due for two more weeks and she just doesn't listen. Maybe she'll listen to you guys, because I've officially given up."

"I say she has to be shipped back to Naruto's," the brunette said with a sly smile. "Maybe a few days with her can whip that moron to an acceptable shape when he meets Hinata's father."

"Hey, don't be nasty to my brother, Tenten!" Sakura shot the brown-haired woman a dirty look while she swept her hair onto her back, letting it fall into a smooth cascade of glossy pink. "Maybe he's a bit of a slowpoke, but he certainly doesn't deserve being tortured by Ino's grooming skills. Everything will be fine, as long as he remain calm during his interview with Hiashi-sama."

"Yeah, right. And Amegakure is full of sand," Tenten shot back with a laugh. "Everything is alright in the Hyuuga front, Hinata?"

"Everything is fine, Tenten," the purple-haired woman laughed quietly behind a hand. "Neji-niisan has been most supportive regarding this matter."

"And here she comes," interjected Sakura to a dressed but still disgruntled blonde pregnant woman that made her way slowly to them. "Remember to take it easy, Ino-pig. It's nearly the end of the spring, so I expect you to lie down in fresh clothes. And no snooping around, Ino! Last time you almost got Tenten and Neji in trouble with Hiashi-sama!"

"Hey! These two need some modesty when they're swimming in the middle of the night wearing their birthday suits!"

"Says the very pregnant underwear model who liked to throw a tantrum when she wasn't on the cover of Konoha's Secret," Tenten shot back, despite the blush on her face.

Sakura threw her head back and laughed heartily at her friends' antics. It was good having them around after so long, but she needed to go back to her shift or Danzou would kill her or what was worse, yell at her for slacking off.

"Alright, get out of my hospital," she ordered airily with a smirk. "I'll see you guys on the weekend. The hospital owes me some time, so what about that surprise, Hinata?"

"Perfect," the other said with a secretive smile. "I'll call you the day after tomorrow to talk about the details."

"Awesome. Get some rest, mama!" she exclaimed, waving at her friends while Ino sputtered.

"I'll show you mama, you dumb Forehead!"

Laughing mischievously, she reentered the ER and pulled her plastic gloves on, opening the first of her two charts.

"Let's see..." she mused, already concentrated on her calling.

-X-

When she parked her car four blocks away from the Konoha General Hospital, she thought it was a good idea to stretch her legs and get some fresh air in her comings and goings from the hospital. But at times like this, when all her strength was sapped by a rather hectic shift in the ER, she cursed her good idea as she unrolled the silken scarf from her neck, letting it fall on her chest.

Okay, maybe now it wasn't a good idea, she mused internally as she held her purse close to her coat as she crossed the street. Her wristwatch bore its hands at eleven o'clock post meridian, which signified 'late' in her language to walk through the streets of the great city of Konoha. She adored her hometown, but sometimes it was a bit scary with its dark alleys and streets.

Therefore, a tired, moody and somewhat paranoid pink-haired medic navigated the streets to her car, praying absently to Kami for everything turning okay.

But apparently, Kami was busy answering other's prayers.

"Are you lost, nee-chan?" a raspy voice floated through an open door. A shaggy man stood before Sakura, towering over the petite medic and leaning on a hand in the frame of the door.

"No, I'm just passing through," she said dryly, already knowing that the man wasn't making idle chatter but he had stopped her mostly to check out her bare legs that showed under her coat.

"You know, nee-chan? You're really cute. But I bet you have cuter stuff in that bag."

Whipping a survival knife, he pointed at Sakura's neck as he grabbed her purse and tried to pull it from her grasp, but she didn't budge.

"Let go, bitch!" the man snarled, slashing forward with the knife but Sakura let out a scream and ducked it by sheer luck.

"Why are you doing this in front of your own house?!" she asked, already looking for an escape unscathed of this situation. The man laughed to her utter surprise and slashed at her arm, cutting her effectively through her thin coat and her shirt.

This time she did let go, falling on the floor on her rump while the man started to run away...

Only to be brought down by a rather hard smack by a wooden baseball bat.

The next thing Sakura knew was that her purse –a lovely red bag that Naruto had got her for her latest birthday– was in front of her eyes.

"Are you okay?" a gentle male voice broke her staring contest with the purse. Emerald eyes trailed up, locking on dark brown orbs. "Oh! You're hurt!"

"Ah... it's just a scratch," she answered dumbly, as the man set her bag on the floor and kneeled next to her. "I can... oh Kami you killed him? You killed the guy?"

"What? Oh no I didn't, I just knocked him out with this," the man raised the bat, and slipping a smile on his lips that sent Sakura's mental processes into oblivion. "Ojousan? Ojousan, are you okay? You look pale... Ojousan?"

Sakura shook her head, trying to clear her head. "I'm... fine, besides this scratch... which I should clean up ASAP... who knows where that guy had put that knife before," she added with a shudder.

"Where are you heading? I can take you to the hospital, it's three blocks down the street and--"

"No!" she exclaimed, cutting him off. "I can't go back to the hospital now, Danzou will have my hide if he finds out I almost got robbed when it's my turn to have the keys of the—nevermind."

"So... you work at the hospital?" the man asked, tilting his head to one side and regarding her with an odd look. "If so, why can't you go back and get some help with that? That wound might be shallow but you're bleeding a lot."

"What?" she blinked, lifting the flap of her coat in order to inspect the wound under the street lamp that stood over them. "I have a kit in my trunk. I can patch myself up."

"Allow me to escort you, Ojousan, please," the man extended a gloved hand towards her. His fingers were long and his nails were clean, she noted as he turned his palm up. "I'm Yamato. Tenzou Yamato."

"Uhm..." she hesitated. Here she was in the middle of the night in a rather dark and desolated street with a dark and handsome man kneeled in front of her and she just couldn't believe her luck and what the hell is going on with the universe by Kami--

"Don't worry," he said, offering her a gentle smile that made her breath hitch minutely. "I won't hurt you, I promise. Here, you can have the bat."

She took the bat and his hand, allowing him to pull her up. "I'm... Haruno Sakura."

"Nice to meet you, Haruno-san, although these circumstances are far from pleasant."

She huffed, hiding her laugh. "Thank you... Tenzou-san."

He smiled again, as they started to walk the remainder of the distance to her parking lot.

-X-

"And then out of the blue he pulled out a knife –that knife– and started to threaten me with it, all the while pulling my purse out of my hands."

"Good thing you brought it, Tenzou-san," the man with a spiked ponytail nodded at the bagged weapon on the desk. "Is that the bat you've hit the guy? We'll need to examine it. Are you going to press charges on this man, Sakura?"

"Of course, Shikamaru... the man harassed me, and being inebriated is not an excuse to go hurting people around."

"Well, after filling these forms..." the detective scratched his head in a disgruntled but lazy manner. "I'll have a car to take you home. I'll call you in the morning about the tests. But not early, Sakura," he added glancing at the medic, who let out a laugh.

"Shika, I haven't slept properly in five days," she shot back with a devious smile. "I'm sure your call is going to wake _me_ for a change."

"Either way it's troublesome. Let me call Asuma to get you home."

"No, Shikamaru, I still have my car in the parking lot. I'll go get it and that's it."

The detective sighed tiredly. "Do what you want, Sakura, but for Kami let me know you got home safely. Temari will kill me when I tell her about this."

"Then don't tell her, poli-genius," Sakura said, pulling out her tongue at him and making Yamato laugh for the silliness of her act. "Say hello for me to your bossy wife, okay? Bye!"

"So the man is whipped?" Yamato asked, prompting another laugh for the pink-haired medic.

"Nah, he loves Temari with all his heart. They got married as soon as they got out of college. I had to stay for one more year since the medicine career is different than Business or Criminal Sciences, but we were a rather mixed but lovable group."

"Seems like a rowdy group," he noted with a small chuckle only to earn a tongue pulled at him as well.

They reached the precinct's door, and Sakura turned to the tall man that had accompanied to the police station. "Thank you for all, Tenzou-s--"

"Please call me Yamato, my last name is not much of my liking anyway," he requested without losing his smile. Sakura cleared her throat and smiled back, squashing down the weird fluttery feeling her stomach went on making whenever he smiled at her.

"Call me Sakura and we're even," she said, and he nodded in agreement.

"Let me accompany you back to the car," he offered. "It's past one in the morning and that neighborhood is quite dark."

She rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. "Okay, but we just left the bat in there, what do we do now?"

"Don't worry, we can manage," he shot back easily, glancing at her before raising his hand, calling a cab.

"Cheater," she said playfully, as the green car stopped in front of them. "I was about to do the same thing."

"Ladies first," he opened the cab's door to allow Sakura to climb in. "So a general surgeon? Your schedule must be very busy."

"It surely is," she answered as the cab took them swiftly to the parking lot. "And what do you do for a living, Yamato? You didn't tell me."

"I'm a naturalist," he said, smirking at the failed attempt Sakura had to conceal her surprise and astonishment.

"Uhm... I'm sure you have a very interesting... schedule, then," she tried, only to have Yamato chuckling at her softly. "Sorry, you caught me off-guard... now are you really a naturalist?"

"I graduated in Biology and Natural Sciences, if that's what you're asking," he answered. "It seems we're both scientists."

"Kami, which one has a Frankenstein hidden in the closet?" she asked, eliciting their joined laughs. The cab led them to the deserted parking lot. After paying the driver, both walked up to the booth, awakening the valet. They kept bantering lightly as they watched the guy trudging to her car, slamming the door as he went inside.

"Apparently someone is not that happy," she observed sarcastically. "I'm dying to go back home and sleep for a week."

"I'm sure you're pretty tired," Yamato remarked, raising a brow at the valet's tardiness to start the car. "What's taking him so long?"

Soon, he got his answer, for the car exploded in front of their stunned eyes, sending them back a few meters from the force of the shockwave.

_So much for a sleeping cure_, Sakura thought aimlessly, finally falling unconscious.

-XxX-

**AN:** Hay there! This is my take at a YamaSaku AU. My beta is absolutely in love with this story, let's see what do you think!

Just for the record, I am no doctor not I have the intention to become one. The medical facts relayed here are the product of a long term investigation. If you see something I need to correct, feel free to point it out.

Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

-X-

The pink-haired doctor regained her consciousness with a groan.

"Sakura? Sakura!" a voice called her name softly, repeating it so she could respond to the coaxing. Opening her eyes, she noticed dark orbs staring at hers with worry. "Are you okay, Sakura?"

"Ugh..." she groaned in pain, trying to lift a hand to her pounding head. "I think I hit my head too hard," she whispered, her mind already running with the procedures she had to do. "No shock, no concussions... am I bleeding?"

"No, but you have a nasty bump," the male voice said gently. "We fell a little too far."

Emerald eyes blinked, lighting with focus. A lot of people dressed in the green uniform of the Konoha Police Department were swarming the area, surrounding her sitting form and the person that held her. She realized she was in the parking lot, recalling the earlier events, the mugging, her time in the Police Precinct, the ride back to the parking lot--her car!

"Kami-sama," she breathed, eyes widening but flinching in pain when she tried to lift her head to see what was left of her beloved black Volvo.

"Stay still, Sakura," the male voice filtered to her hazed mind. "Someone from the Hospital is coming to check you out."

"Goddamit," she cursed softly. "My car exploded..."

"Yes, it did," the voice kept talking to her. Turning her head, she found Yamato with a bruise on his temple, but seemingly as sound as her. "My guess is that someone doesn't like you so much."

"Are you okay?" she asked hastily, oblivious of his last words and raising a hand to his face. He hissed in pain, but stayed still. "No other wounds?"

Her curt words seemed to elicit a little smile on the dark-haired naturalist. "I'm fine," he said. "Doctor Root saw me just a moment ago."

"I'll be damned," she groaned, not noticing the person that kneeled next to her.

"You will be damned alright, Doctor Haruno," the deadpan tone from the ER Head signaled his presence to the dazed female. "You are not doing any further graveyard shifts until you get your own spot in the Hospital parking lot."

"Like I care about a parking spot, Danzou-san," she groaned, clutching her head. "I need painkillers, not a scolding from you!"

"I've just given you some," he shot back, showing her the empty syringe. "Now stay put or I'll report you to Tsunade."

Sakura paled under her scowl. "You wouldn't dare."

"All I know is that the Director's prized apprentice is involved in a criminal investigation," the strict man said, looking at her with his usual narrowed eyes. "She will certainly throw a tantrum of epic proportions if she finds out."

"I'm afraid I'll have to request for your discretion, Dr. Root," Shikamaru intervened, hands in his pockets and face scrunched in annoyance. "Sakura will be under the Police's protection from now on. I'll draw the papers for her to enter our Witness Protection Program until we find out who's behind this attack."

"No!" Sakura shouted, suddenly terrified. "I'm not going to accept that! I'm not going to stay in a safehouse, Shikamaru; I have too much work to do!"

The Detective sighed heavily. "Sakura, please understand. This attempt might be from a terrorist, we don't know if this is an isolated thing or if they just screwed up their target. I'm not going to risk you unnecessarily. I'll call Naruto--"

"NO!" she protested loudly, flinching when she heard herself. "Naruto has enough in his mind with the impending meeting with the Hyuuga. And don't even think about calling Sasuke either! He has been behaving weirdly lately. And not to mention Sai! I'd rather stay in a hotel if I can't go home."

"How troublesome you are, Pinky," the brown-haired policeman shook his head. "Temari will have my head if I let you stay in a hotel. I rather you to say with us--"

"Or she can stay with me," offered the man behind Sakura lightly. "We don't really know if this attack was aimed at her or me. I live four blocks from the Precinct anyway, so I think you'll be able to keep an eye on us pretty easily."

"That's not necessary, Yamato, I can perfectly stay in a hotel--"

"Actually, I think it's a pretty good idea," Shikamaru said, effectively cutting her protests off. "He's right, we need to keep the two of you together for the time being, at least until the evidence is processed by the CSI Department."

"What? Are you out of your mind, shougi freak? What makes you think he's not a psycho--sorry, no offense, Yamato, but that's insane--"

"After you left I had him investigated, Sakura, who do you think you're talking to?" Shikamaru shot back with a self-sufficient smirk. "He's a model Konoha citizen, as far as we know and is it shown in his resume and public career. I'm putting you guys under 24/7 surveillance anyway, so you can rest assured. If he tries something my men will have his neck cuffed in no time."

The pink-haired medic sputtered as she allowed Yamato to pull her to her feet, but she shrugged his hand off as she confronted the Detective one more time. "You–you idiot! How can I impose him with my presence just like that? I'm _so_ calling Temari, you good for nothing ass--"

"Do that and I'll call Naruto," the brown-haired man threatened hastily, brandishing his cell phone like a sword. "Do you really want him –or Sasuke, or even Sai– to know you've been this close to blowing up to bits?"

She gathered air to keep screaming at her friend, but she promptly closed her mouth. Hanging her head in defeat, she let out another groan.

"...Fine. Just... don't call them. I don't want them involved in any of this."

"I'm glad you see it my way," the Detective Nara replied with another tired sigh and motioning for one of his colleagues to approach the group. "Asuma, please get them to Tenzou-san's flat and tell Hagane to start the surveillance. I'll arrange the shifts first thing in the morning; let's get the hell out of here."

The bearded policeman nodded. "Will do. Please, Haruno-san, Tenzou-san, this way," he added, leading them to the unit with the lights on the roof turned on.

Before going though, Sakura turned and hugged the surprised Shikamaru. "Thank you, Shika," she said. "Tell Temari I'm okay."

He hugged her back briefly but fondly. "You'll be fine, Pinky. We'll do our best to protect you."

"Dr. Root," she turned to see a very disgruntled old medic. "I'll make it up to you, I promise. Here," she added, fumbling inside her purse and giving him a ring full of little keys. "If I'll be grounded I won't be able to keep guarding the cabinet keys. Give them to Dr. Shizune, please."

"This will serve you right, Haruno. You still need to prepare your participation in the conference, don't forget you'll be giving the closure speech," he said sternly as he accepted the keys. "I doubt this will be delayed until the end of the season. Get your laptop and start writing."

"Hai, I will. Thank you so much, Danzou-san, I really appreciate your--"

"Don't mention it, girl," he snapped. "Remember I'm not the one that endorsed you as the closing presentation for the Medical Federation."

The emerald-eyed woman flinched at his harsh words, but nodded all the same. "You won't be disappointed, I assure you."

Walking behind Asuma with Yamato in tow, she sighed while she rubbed her bumped head carefully. She only hoped this turned fined by the end of this ordeal, but right now she just needed a bed...

"And a punching bag," she growled under her breath. A soft chuckle regarded her, making her turn her head at her companion. Yamato looked tired and worn out, but he offered her a smile.

"I can provide you with a bed," he said good-naturedly. "I have a flat quite too big for my own good. You can even lock yourself in one of the rooms if you feel that the psycho will attack you."

She blushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped like that..."

"Don't worry, Sakura," he said soothingly with a nod. "I can understand your distress. As for myself, I've been through worse... though I have to admit that this caught me off guard."

"I find that hard to believe, Yamato," she answered, prodding her head again. "Oh man, I'm going to be so sick tomorrow when the painkiller wears off."

"We'll deal with that tomorrow, don't worry," the gentle reply came from the man at her side. His warm presence reassured her somewhat, lulling her spooked senses back into a leveled state. She found out that she didn't mind that his arm was pressed against hers as they both sat on the backseat of the police car.

-X-

They rode in silence until she felt her head dropping by lack of sleep and general exhaustion. When the car stopped, she lifted her head with a deep breath, looking blearily to the street outside.

"We're here," the gentle murmur from Yamato snapped her into attention. Climbing out of the patrolling unit, she absently heard the brown-haired man talking with the policeman, Asuma, then walking up to her and extending a hand in polite invitation.

The flat was dark but some well-placed lamps spilled their light as soon as they entered. Yamato sighed heavily, while he took off his green jacket. Only then, Sakura noticed the man's outfit: black slacks, black turtle-neck with long sleeves and the green camouflaged jacket.

"Are you a military officer?" she asked curiously. He turned to her and laughed softly, shaking his head.

"I was for a time, but now I'm just a boring biologist," he said, his tone full of humor. She hid her smile behind her hand, but failed to hide her laugh.

"Sure, a boring biologist who walks around the city carrying a baseball bat."

He chuckled but didn't answer, turning the main lights on instead. Regarding her surroundings, she noted that his apartment was vast, with high windows and plenty of potted plants everywhere. Clean wooden floors and the addition of sparse furniture made of dark wood but with well-picked colors created an earthy, jungle-like scheme.

"Wow," she sighed, seeing so much vegetation in one place. "This is amazing!"

"So you like plants?"

"Well, yeah, I have two aloe-vera plants and a cactus at home, but just because I can't take care of other kind of plants... I'm afraid I'm not very homey."

"It's okay, cactus flowers are quite beautiful and like the plant itself, it doesn't need much to survive and bloom," he explained, nodding in approval. "Come, I'll show you where you can sleep."

Leading her to a corner of the big living room, he opened a door. The bedroom was simple, with cream and brown colors.

"Thank goodness the cleaning lady came by yesterday," he said conversationally. "Otherwise everything around here would be a mess."

"It's okay, I don't mind," she responded politely, as he handed her a blanket and a pillow. "Thank you, Yamato," she added, bowing slightly. "I'm sorry to intrude in your home like this."

"Don't be, Sakura," he answered with a little smile. "After all, I invited you to stay here. And if there's someone after you, it would be better if you are in another place."

"I still need to get home soon," she mused aloud. "I need to get my laptop and a shower and clothes," she pointed out by pointing at her bloodied blouse.

"Let me lend you something while the washing machine takes care of that," he offered, disappearing from the room for a moment. Sakura took a deep breath, steadying her shaky heart that had started beating weirdly since he laughed at her bat joke. "Here," he called, coming back and handing her a pajama shirt. "I'm afraid it would be big for your frame, but it's the smallest I have," Yamato explained, scratching his head, sheepish.

"It's okay, really, I'm bothering you too much," she said hastily, waving a hand nervously.

"I don't mind," he said. "Rest well, Sakura," he added, already closing the door.

"Good night... Yamato," she trailed off, staring at the door for a long moment before pulling her clothes off, changing quickly into his pajama shirt and collapsing in the comfy bed.

-X-

Sakura woke up feeling a lot better and rested. Glancing at her watch, she noticed she had slept well after noon.

"Damn," she groaned in pleasure, yawning and stretching. She hadn't slept this well since her faculty years.

A knock on the door startled her for a moment. Remembering where she was and who was behind the door, she sat up quickly and covered her body with the blanket with a hand, while she tried to smooth her pink hair from its usual sleepy mess. "Yes?" she called, noting her voice still hoarse from her slumber.

Yamato cracked open the door but didn't look inside. "I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

"No, no, I was already up," she replied. "Good morning!"

"Ah, good morning," he greeted back. "I took the liberty to take your clothes to wash up," he added, "so I brought you a robe in case you wanted to join me for lunch," he added, sticking in a hand holding a green robe.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, scrambling off the bed and stumbling with one of her shoes, landing on the wooden floor with a squeak. "Oh, wait! I'll get it!"

"Don't worry, I'm not in a hurry," he said lightly, his tone betraying his mirth as he felt the robe being pulled from his grasp. "I was wondering if you were hungry."

"Are you kidding me? I'm starving," she answered from behind the door. "I think I overcharged my batteries!"

"I'm glad you got proper rest--" he cut himself off when the door opened completely, showing a pink-haired beauty dressed in his robe and a shy smile, while her hand tried compulsively to untangle her messy hair. Yamato cleared his throat. "I made tempura."

"My favorite," she smiled. "Can I use your bathroom?"

"Sure, it's the door next to your room," he said, moving from his spot and walking to one of the big potted plants. "I'll set the table."

Yamato went to the kitchen, getting the dishes and everything in order to set their lunch. It was a wonder that she hadn't fallen into a hysteric fit, especially regarding their current situation, he pondered as his hands filled a bowl with hot tomato soup.

True to his first calling, he assessed the distress of the pink-haired medic as soon as he spotted her defending herself from the mugger. It didn't take too much to bring the thug down, knocking him unconscious with the bat he had bought that early evening in a sports shop. His years in the military force helped him to scan the surroundings, just in case, as the female doctor and he went into the parking lot and she treated her wound in a neat but quick manner, bandaging her arm and storing her medical pack back in her car's trunk.

But certainly, he hadn't expected her Volvo to explode the way it did when the valet started the engine.

Yamato was a bit sedate, but his mind worked rather quickly. It wasn't too hard to evaluate the scene when he took in the car engulfed in flames, but he concluded that it would be wiser if he waited for the evidence to be processed by forensics.

His eyes had been drawn to the pink-haired beauty as she fought with her assailant. She certainly was a feisty woman, he concluded as he poured some jasmine tea into cups, finishing with the table serving task.

"Oh wow, this looks amazing," he heard her say behind him, prompting him to turn his head to regard her.

She had washed her face, combing her long roseate colored tresses into a loose ponytail with a lock of her own hair. She looked way better than her distressed self the night before, but her hand kept rubbing unconsciously the bump she had acquired in her fall.

"Thank you," he said as they both took their seats. "Did you find the toiletry kit? I got it for you this morning."

"I did, thank you," she smiled shyly. "This had been so sudden I didn't think I was going to need it."

"Careful, the soup is hot," he said lightly, as both started to eat in a companionable silence, only peppered with pleasant comments about his plants.

-X-

"Ah, I'm stuffed," Sakura sighed in content, lowering her chopsticks. "Thank you, Yamato. It was delicious! And even my headache was defeated by your food!"

"Maa, it was nothing," he said with a smile. "So this conference you were talking about," he continued, putting his napkin on the table. "I've read it is the most important event in the medical field."

"Yeah, it is," she nodded with an apprehensive smile. "Tsunade-shishou proposed me to give the closure presentation about treating techniques to patients in the post-surgery phase. To be honest, I don't know why she endorsed me if she knows I'm still a rookie in the OR, seeing as I just got transferred from the Emergency Room."

"So you were an Attendant," he stated, showing her how much he knew about the hospital's procedures.

She nodded, taking a sip of her tea. "Yes, until last Christmas. I got upgraded to the OR and I'm still figuring out how to fit into their rhythm," she let out an amused snort. "I was so used to the ER's frantic pace, so the OR was somewhat snail-ish for me. I was a bit frustrated for a while because of that."

"I understand," he said with an amused smile. The pink-haired doc's face scrunched in frustration when she recalled the event she was relaying out loud, but the pout she showed was completely endearing. "So the presentation you need to compose is long?"

"I don't know... but I certainly need to go get my computer, I have all the information gathered in its hard drive," she answered with a grimace.

"I was about to offer you my own laptop, but if you already have the information it will be a pain to collect it again," he said, standing up and picking up his dishes. "Maybe we can ask the police to retrieve it for you from your home."

To his surprise, Sakura groaned and stood up, picking the rest of the table rather quickly but neatly as she went.

"Shikamaru wouldn't live it down," she whined softly. "I need to go there by myself. I won't let an unknown policeman to go snooping on my stuff! Besides, we can ask the officer to accompany me there, but I have way too many things that need to be left alone... and I know that those people are most nosy!"

Yamato lifted a brow as she followed him into the kitchen. "You seem familiar with the police's customs and procedures."

"Having Shika in our gang pretty much spoiled the fun sometimes," she relayed as the started the water running. He was about to protest, but she smiled and lifted a hand. "Come on, let me do the dishes, it's the least I can do! So where was I... ah, yes, Shikamaru is quite the spoilsport! Once, my girlfriends and I were going to sneak into a friend's house to give him a lesson; Sai is quite the neat freak, so we were going to mess up a bit with his brushes, but Shika went ahead and let him know about our plans!"

The brown-haired man snorted, amused. "What a snitch. And what happened in the end?"

"In the end, I had to take a shower at Ino's because he dumped a bucket of paint on my head... not to mention Temari gave Shikamaru hell because of his slip. Tenten's skirt was ruined, and Hinata had to run with me to Naruto's home to get dressed because she had a job interview that afternoon."

"Serves you right," Yamato murmured, smiling when Sakura threw him a mock glare. "The guy is a neat freak, what about us scientists? We need to be neat."

"Yeah, if we weren't someone would die," she shot back good-naturedly, drying her hands as she finished washing the dishes, but suddenly her face darkened. "I'm sorry you have to put up with me in this awful situation, Yamato... I'm sure you had better things to do..."

"I don't mind, honestly," he answered readily. "It's good to have some company. This apartment gets too big for me from time to time. At any rate, it should be me who apologizes to you; this ordeal is taking a toll on your routine and your work."

"Don't be sorry, it wasn't your fault," she sighed in defeat, only to let out a frustrated growl. "I just want to find out who's behind all this and punch him till kingdom come!"

Yamato snorted softly, arching a finger at her. "Come, I'll show you something you might like."

The apartment seemed to breathe with life because of all the plants, she noted as they walked into a corner that was devoid of the potted vegetation. She observed that the space was fitting for indoor physical exercises, but when she followed his finger, she had to let out an incredulous laugh.

"Oh God, you heard me!" she giggled in sarcastic glee.

He merely nodded and chuckled along, while the object of their banter hung still from a little platform.

A punching bag.

-XxX-

**AN:** So here's the second chapter! This story has been completed a while ago, so I can tell you there are five more chapters to be posted!

Chao! ;D


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter**** 3**

-X-

The police officer scratched his head in confusion and embarrassment.

"Please, please, please, _please_!" Sakura pleaded with clasped hands in front of her. "I need clothes and my laptop! I can't stop working because some lunatic wants to blow me up!"

The man sighed, hearing faints chuckles from behind the pink-haired doctor.

"Oh fine, I'll get you there. But later we'll stop by the precinct to report to Nara--"

"Yes! We will get you a whole box of doughnuts and a _really_ nice cup of coffee, but now please take us to my apartment!"

Kotetsu rolled his eyeballs under his closed eyes. "Hop in, Haruno-san, Tenzou-san."

"Yosh," Yamato smirked, matching the mischief that shone in Sakura's eyes when they saw the uniformed officer relenting to their request.

"Thank you so, _so_ much, Hagane-san!" the medic added with a beam. "You're saving my whole career!"

The policeman chortled but said nothing, as the patrolling unit sped through the afternoon traffic easily.

"So, the surgery procedures take a toll on the patients," Yamato said suddenly, as if continuing a previous discussion. "I read that sometimes the patients fall into a depression in the post-surgical stage."

"Yes, sometimes it's because of the anesthesia wearing off," Sakura nodded, missing the curious glance that the police directed at them through the mirror. "Sometimes it's because the whole procedure was about the extirpation of a body part. I've seen people mourning their appendix, of all things. Sometimes it's because they lost someone during the surgery, mostly when there's more than one person in the OR."

"Like the victims of a car crash?" the biologist asked. "I see. And have you lost patients on the table?"

"A few," she said with a grimace, drawing her brows in a sad expression. "I've seen plenty of things in the ER, but the losing of a patient it's never easy. The OR it's not that sedate when the Code Blue is activated, but even during those occasions we have lost people."

"You can't save them all, Sakura," he offered in a murmur with a little, reassuring smile. "I've seen several cases of burnout when I was serving in the military forces because the medics kept working and working with no mind about their own selves, and their fatigue led them to make the wrong decision for the patient's wellbeing."

"Fighting exhaustion is our daily motto," she drawled sarcastically, "but you're absolutely right, though. Some colleagues I know are so engrossed in their work that we almost have a nurse following them with a wheel chair for when they collapse."

"And I guess you aren't one of those cases, are you?" the brown-haired man asked with a playful glint in his dark eyes.

Sakura huffed, clearly embarrassed. "Maybe, but I know when I have to stop, you see. Ah, Hagane-san! Turn right here, we're almost in my neighborhood."

Her companion chuckled mutedly when he noticed the soft tinge in her cheeks, but laughed more when she stuck her tongue out at him.

-X-

"Ah, Mizuki-san, how are you?" the medic greeted her landlord with a wave. The man nodded with a pleasant smile as he leaned on the broom.

"Haruno-san! Long time no see, how's the hospital?"

"In the same place!" she shot back with a giggle. "Anything for me?" she asked. It was because of her work that she requested for her landlord to receive any package that was addressed to her, seeing as she wasn't at home often. The man nodded.

"A package for you arrived yesterday evening," he answered. "I was surprised, because the messenger came in after five, and that was a weird hour for him to be still working... wait, I'll get it for you."

"Can you take it to my apartment? I'm leaving the city for a while and I need to pack."

Yamato watched her interact with the landlord, noticing how jumpy the older man was when she asked him about the package and his covert surprise when she said about her sudden 'trip' out of Konoha. Sharing a glance with the police officer, who had taken off his jacket and all the identifications of him being a man of the law, he nodded at his muted agreement of the observed man's behavior.

Following Sakura up the stairs, she kept talking with the man over the railing.

"Oh no, I think I'll be back in three days, I just need a little change of air! I've been stuffed in the hospital for too long, you see."

"Of course, Haruno-san!" the landlord agreed. "And who are your companions, if I might ask?"

"Ah! These are some colleagues of mine," Sakura responded quickly. "They're taking me to the train station as a favor, so I need to run, Mizuki-san! See you in a bit!"

She rushed to her apartment's door, fumbling with the keys for a moment.

"Relax, Sakura," Yamato whispered. "He's not here. Open the door carefully."

She nodded obediently, clasping the keys and taking a deep breath. "I feel like I'm in a movie or something..."

"Let's hope not," Kotetsu piped in with a whisper, pulling out a little gun from a holster he had on his shin. "Turn the key and step back, Haruno-san."

She did as she was told, opening the main lock and dangling her keys to the doorknob. Motioning her to stand next to the naturalist, she watched him fling the door open quickly but silently, exploring her little apartment within a few tense moments. He stuck his head out, offering them a little smile.

"Clear, Haruno-san."

"Let's hope we don't get electrocuted afterwards," she grumbled as she entered the apartment, a chuckling Yamato in tow. He seemed to have picked up her lame medical joke.

The place was just like she left it. Arranged in a way that only she could make her way through the myriad of books and boxes, she groaned when she saw her little living room cluttered with a ton of stray clothes and random medical tools.

"Now I see why you were so put out with your neat freak friend," Yamato said playfully. She pouted and started to gather a few items quickly.

"Oh please, I haven't been here in a week!" she exclaimed dramatically, laughing. "I'm a neat freak as well, but not as much as Sai anyway."

"The painter? I've heard from Nara that he's a weird character," supplied Kotetsu as he watched her dump the clothes in the hamper and start arranging the books and medical tools.

"He is a weirdo indeed, but we love him nonetheless. He opened his art gallery with another two artists, but one of them died due food poisoning and the other centered his pieces about strange bird sculptures. I'm glad that Deidara and Sai pulled their gallery quite nicely after Sasori's death."

"The names ring a bell, certainly," Yamato added, but a sharp knock on the door made them go still for a moment. Pointing at Kotetsu, he motioned for Sakura to keep doing what she was doing, which was folding a few clothes to pack in her suitcase. He opened the door, encountering the landlord with a pleasant but hard stare.

"Ah, Mizuki-san!" she greeted from the sofa as she zipped closed the suitcase. "What about the package then?"

"I brought it, Haruno-san," the man said, scratching his head. "But I have to admit that it's a tad bit too weird..."

"Weird? Why?" asked Kotetsu, handing the pink-haired medic the briefcase that held her personal computer. The landlord presented a square box, wrapped in newspaper and held with a red ribbon.

"Leave it on the table, Mizuki-san, I'll open it in a bit," Sakura said with a forced smile. The man nodded and left, but not before sending an anxious glance at the package.

Yamato closed the door. "Call me paranoid, but we need to go, now."

Kotetsu nodded, surveying the box with a tilted head. "It can be a bomb for all we know."

"What?!" she screeched, almost dropping her laptop case. "That's a bomb?!"

"I'm not sure," the policeman admitted. "I can't hear the ticking."

"The man threw the box onto the table as if it burned him, so I hardly doubt it's a bomb," Yamato assured them, walking to the package and pulling a knife tool from his pocket, cutting the red ribbon carefully.

Both Sakura and the police officer held their breaths as the naturalist opened the lid.

After a moment of silence (and no boom), he lifted his dark eyes to Sakura's, showing a great deal of concern.

"I think we can discard me as their target," he murmured.

Sakura covered her mouth in surprise when she saw the contents of the box. A torn, white coat like the ones she wore in the hospital, spattered with a red substance. Blood.

She vaguely heard Kotetsu phoning his superior as she sank to her knees in shock, only to be caught in her fall by warm, strong arms.

"It's okay, Sakura. It's okay," she heard a gentle voice, soothing her. She clung to Yamato's embrace, as they waited for Shikamaru's instructions.

-X-

"For God's sake, Naruto, I'm okay!" Sakura shouted at her cell-phone. "I'm just heading over to Shikamaru's to talk to him about something--no, I'm telling you this is a police matter, I don't want you to--no, I'm not staying at my place, they think it's not safe--oh, please, don't be silly, it's just something I must do--goddammit, NARUTO!"

Yamato watched the medic arguing with her friend over the phone quite entertained with her disgruntled expressions. The pink-haired woman had called her friend with a grimace, knowing that if she disappeared from his radar he would flip out. And flip out he did, when she told him about their adventure the other night.

"No, Naruto, I won't stay at your place--no, Sai's place drives me insane--no! I won't stay with Sasuke after that weird stunt he pulled with Itachi! Naruto, listen--no, just listen, okay? I'm arriving at Shika's. I'll call you later--and don't tell Sai or Sasuke, you stupid blond!"

Closing her portable phone, Sakura sighed heavily, earning a chuckle from the biologist at her side. "Although I'm older than him, he keeps babying me like he did back in college," she relayed, shaking her head in exasperation. "It drives me crazy, but what can I do?"

"I'm sure he's just worried about you," Yamato said with a smile. "He's your best friend, after all."

"I'm doomed; both of my best friends are blondes. This is insane."

Helping her out of the patrol car, they made their way to the Precinct. Sakura cringed inwardly when she pictured Shikamaru's annoyed face. They were in for a difficult conversation, she concluded as she saw Asuma's withdrawn face as he greeted them.

--

"The tests will find the guy, Sakura."

The medic groaned and pressed her forehead back on the desk. "I want out of this, dammit."

"Don't we all," the Detective drawled in irritation. "Why did you have to go to your place anyway? I told you to break your routines and the first thing you do is prance around boasting about a dumb trip out of town. How troublesome."

"Shika, it was the first thing that came to mind when the landlord cornered me," she explained tiredly. "I needed to get some clothes and my laptop. I won't allow this mess to take over my life and my career, I just won't. I'm scared, okay? I'm freaking terrified, but I need to work and I _need_ my job."

The police genius sighed. "You don't have to tell me that, woman. I know you're as much a workaholic like Temari is."

"Then why are you making this so difficult, you idiot?" she complained with a whine. "We don't need to be around waiting for the lab results! I want to leave this place, it gives me the creeps."

"Gee, thanks. Here I thought my decoration tastes were okay enough," Shikamaru shot back sarcastically. "At any rate, I'd rather for you stay with Yamato-san at all times. I'll drop by when we figure something out."

"Yeah, yeah," Sakura pouted. "I'm really sorry, Yamato. I think I'll be bothering you for a while more."

"I don't mind," he replied easily. "As long as we can secure your safety, I'll be happy to help."

Sakura blushed faintly, feeling her heart fluttering at his smile. "I really appreciate it."

He picked her suitcase up with ease. "Let's go home, shall we?"

She nodded, feeling a certain warmth in her heart that she hadn't felt in a long, long time.

-X-

"I think we can order something to eat and then you can bury yourself in the speech," Yamato was saying as they stepped out of the Precinct, when a shrill scream of Sakura's name cut him off. Turning their heads, they noticed three men, one blond and two black-haired ones, rushing toward them.

Sakura groaned lowly but smiled when the blond approached. "Hey, Naruto, what--_oof_!"

Without warning, the tall sunny-haired man engulfed her in a tight embrace. She corresponded heartily, sighing in content at the sudden gesture.

"Naruto, my ribs. Ouch."

The man disentangled from her hastily. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I'm just so relieved to see you're okay," he said, glancing suspiciously to the man besides his best friend. "I called Temari and she told me the whole thing. Why didn't you tell me your car had blown up?!"

This time, Sakura's groan was quite audible. "Because I knew you were going to react like this, Naruto!" she exclaimed despairingly. "And you two, stop glaring at me! This is a matter I'm dealing by myself!"

"That doesn't mean we weren't worried about you, Hag," one of them replied spontaneously, with a fake smile. "Dickless and Brooder here almost had a heart attack when Temari told us."

The pink-haired doctor rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Sai, do you want me to punch you again? It's not nice to insult your friends like that, moron!"

"You're deviating from the point, Sakura," the other man shot back. "You could have told us."

Yamato was no fool. The tone the man had employed was low enough to imply he was upset because the female hadn't told _him_ about her ordeal.

"What am I, five?" she countered angrily. "This doesn't concern you, Sasuke. This is _my_ business. And I won't allow any of you to be involved. Can't you see this is for your own safety, you idiots?!"

Naruto was about to reply, but her words deflated him. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, Sakura-chan. Shikamaru is the smartest of us all, and I'm sure he will find the bastard that is threatening you soon."

She sighed in relief. "Thank you, honey. I'll call you--"

"But Sasuke and Sai are right, Sakura-chan," the blond put his fists on his hips as if chastising a little kid. "You could have told us. I was worried sick about you..."

"Alright, Naruto," the doctor embraced him once more. "I'm sorry, okay? I was scared-- I'm still scared. But Shika is taking care of everything and Yamato is with me."

"Wha--who's Yamato?" the blond asked, confused. She looked at the man at her side and smiled sheepishly at him.

"Tenzou Yamato, these are Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Sai. Guys, this is Yamato."

Sai accepted the biologist's proffered hand with a blank face, Naruto shook it lost in his confusion, but Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man, crossing his arms on his chest blatantly, in an open display of rudeness.

"And what exactly is he to you, Sakura?" he asked darkly, only to have a red bag swatted on his arm with enough force to make him flinch.

"Stop it. Stop it in this instant, Uchiha Sasuke," the medic snarled in anger. "I'm sick and tired of your jealousy attacks. Behave yourself and I might not extirpate your intestines with a beverage straw."

"We don't know him, Sakura-chan!" Naruto approved and supported Sasuke's suspicions. The artist nodded as well.

"For all we know he might be the bomber," Sai piped up blandly. Sakura's palm met her own forehead in frustration. Naruto flinched in fear when she sent them a furious glare.

"You morons! Why are you ganging up on us? He's a good man, Shikamaru said it himself! Stop behaving like retards and give him some breathing space! The intestines threat goes for the three of you, is that understood? I'm not going to allow any of you to go and accuse someone that had been very sympathetic with this whole mess!"

"But Hag-"

"ENOUGH!" she bellowed, earning the surprised stares from the people coming and going to the Police Station's doors. "You will stop your overprotective stunt right here and right now! I'm tired of this and I want to go home and I need to work on my speech and you certainly are not helping, dammit!"

"You can stay with one of us--" Naruto offered, but Sakura beat him to the punch.

"No, Naruto. I told you I won't involve any of you in this!"

"I have a house near the beach," Sasuke replied, looking at her intensely. "We can stay there."

Yamato's eyebrow lifted minutely at the pronoun he used, inwardly amused, but something told him that the Uchiha man was trying to grasp at straws with the medic. This conclusion made him feel the sudden heavy feeling he had in his chest lighten up a bit. Sakura's glare returned with a vengeance towards Sasuke, imitating Naruto's chastising position from a minute ago.

"No, Sasuke. I won't stay with you."

"Sakura--"

"No! I need to be here in the city and without any distractions! My presentation for the Medical Federation is way too important to lose it and--no, Sasuke!"

"Don't worry, fellows," Yamato felt that was the right time to interrupt. Sakura was getting too much frustrated for his tastes. "She's staying with me; I live a few blocks from here. I can assure you that Sakura is well protected."

From the narrowed eyes he got from the three men, he understood that he had made a wrong move.

"And who the hell do you think--" Naruto started to say, but a smack on his head from the irate pink-haired female was enough to shut him up.

"That's it!" she exclaimed. "You guys want to be assholes? Fine, be assholes. I'm leaving. Let's go, Yamato!"

Asuma appeared by their side suddenly, leading them to the street walk. Sakura groaned and backed her steps towards the stunned men. Giving a hug to Naruto, a pinch to Sai's side and a glare to Sasuke she returned, allowing the policeman to escort her and the biologist to his abode.

"I swear, this is insane," she sentenced. Crossing the street, he allowed his chuckles to be heard, as the medic smiled back in embarrassment.

"And I'm going to kill Temari as soon as this is over."

The naturalist felt the need to keep quiet at that statement.

-XxX-

**AN:** Yeah! A little bit of ItaSaku because I can, but rest assured that Yamyams will get the chick. XD

Four more to go! 8D


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

-X-

After a relaxing shower and a cup of Yamato's jasmine tea, Sakura finally allowed her anger to ebb away as she looked at the plants that littered Yamato's flat.

"You sure have a liking for plants," she commented randomly. "Which one is your favorite?"

"I have three favorites," he answered smoothly. "The Japanese maples, the oaks and the cherries. But I can't have any of them here; they grow too tall."

"Nice picks, Yamato," she smiled. "I have a liking for the cherries myself, but mostly because of my name, you know."

"I think it suits you," he smirked when he noticed her faint blush. "More tea?"

"Thanks, but I think I'm heading to bed... good night, Yamato."

"Rest well, Sakura," he waved as she stood up from the garden chair he kept on the balcony. "I'll give you the codes for the wireless tomorrow if you need them."

"I appreciate your help," she smiled. "See you tomorrow."

As she disappeared through the balcony doors, he let out a deep sigh.

The doctor was incredibly beautiful; he had noticed it as soon as she raised her head when he offered her purse back after he knocked out the mugger. Her dark green eyes were her most striking feature, in his opinion, because they had the color of the rainforests after a rainy night.

Shaking his head, he lifted his eyes to the bank of stars. He had been alone for far too long, he concluded.

-X-

A nice yawn greeted Yamato's good morning, making him smile in amusement.

"Sorry," Sakura said sleepily with a smile of her own. "I think I overslept."

"It's okay," he said lightly. "It's only ten in the morning."

Sakura groaned and yawned again. "That bed sucks all my energy; it makes me want to laze around on it all day."

"A friend of mine used to say the same thing when he crashed over," Yamato commented, pouring a cup of coffee for her. "Although I personally think that he's just lazy by nature."

She let out a laugh. "I don't share that view of life, but after sleeping on that bed I can totally see why," she joked, plugging in her black tablet computer and arranging all the cables, creating her workstation on the dining table. Yamato's gray and green laptop was open across the table, a soft music filtered through its speakers.

"Here, there's sugar on the table," he said as he placed the mug on the table next to her computer. "These are the codes for the wireless connection," he added, pointing to a piece of paper. "I figured you could work better if you had access to the Internet."

She nodded as she sipped the steaming black substance and hummed to show her approval of its taste. "Yes, I need to check some things on the Medical Fed's site... thank you, Yamato, it's very thoughtful of you."

He just let out a little smile and sat in front of his computer, glancing from time to time to at the disheveled pink-haired medic that was holding the cup of coffee with two hands while her laptop started its system.

Soon, he saw how she slipped into work mode as she started to type. Her eyes were focused on the screen, a nice, soft golden glow from the window was lighting up her face, enhancing her focused beauty as he listened to her dancing fingers on her keyboard.

Suddenly, her eyes lifted from her laptop. "Is that Loreena McKennitt?"

Yamato smiled behind his coffee mug, pleased that she had recognized his choice of music. "Yes, she's one of my favorite musicians."

"I love her music as well," she noted, offering him a grin as she lowered her now awake emerald orbs to her work and resumed her fast typing.

After a long while, he stood up and retrieved her mug, refilling it as well as his with more coffee, giving him the chance to see her screen. A white sheet of the word processor was filled with sentences and long paragraphs, while most of her investigation was opened in several browser windows.

Being a lover of silences, he didn't dare to interrupt her concentration, but he had to notice how her lower lip was being sucked as she pondered over an idea, and how her eyebrow lifted to express her sudden understanding of the redaction she was making.

"Say, do you think it's wise to start a speech with a joke or with a something serious?"

Her question took him by surprise. "A joke is a good ice-breaker, but sometimes it's not wise to crack one in a room full of solemn people."

"Tell me about it," Sakura snorted. "Naruto made that mistake the first time Hinata invited him for tea at her house. Her father and her cousin weren't really pleased with his joke about drunkards."

Yamato laughed heartily. "It depends on the audience, yes... but glum things mostly call off the attention of most of the audience if you start with... I don't know, AIDS or the ozone layer," he concluded with a wince when she lifted both her eyebrows when she heard him.

"Then... okay, I think I got it," she smiled widely and threw him a wink. "Thanks for your input!"

"Don't mention it," he answered, watching her long, slender and very feminine fingers dancing over the keyboard in an inspirational frenzy.

Shaking his head to dispel a certain naughty thought about those fingers, he returned to his work, sending glances from time to time to the roseate-haired medic sitting across the table.

Little did he know, that she was stealing glances at him as well.

A while later, a frustrated groan from Sakura pulled Yamato out of his concentration.

"I swear to Kami, this is getting ridiculous," she muttered quite audibly. The biologist lifted a questioning brow as her eyes connected to his.

"What's wrong?" he asked lightly. She rolled her eyes and pointed to her screen.

"Sasuke keeps thinking that he can be my knight in shining armor," she confided with a sarcastic tone. "He sent me an email saying that he had reinforced the security in the Uchiha mansion for me to go and stay there."

"Ah, now the name rings a bell," he said. Sure enough, the Uchiha Corporation was the main technology company in the city. "If you want, you can humor him. I won't hold it against you."

To his surprise, Sakura sent an exasperated glare at him. "Hell no. I won't go there, Sasuke needs to understand that my relationship with his brother is over and I won't make the same mistake with him."

Now, Yamato had to admit he was curious. A little of his sentiment showed on his eyes, because Sakura shook her head in wry amusement.

"Back in college, Itachi and I started dating and I didn't even know he was Sasuke's older brother," she explained, leaning her head on her palm supported by her elbow on the table. "When I found out I freaked out because if his status as president of the Uchiha Corp, but it turned out that Itachi didn't mind being seen with a med-school student. We kept our liaison until I reached my final semester, but then Sasuke found out about us from his father and went berserk."

"Why?" Yamato asked. "You were dating his brother, not him."

"Apparently Sasuke had a thing for me, Itachi told me once but I thought he was just joking," she sighed. "Itachi and I broke up because we are from different worlds, and I wasn't about to accept being a housewife after graduating from med-school with honors. Surprisingly, he understood what I meant, and now he's a good friend of mine, despite of how Sasuke gets pissed every single time I say he called to check on me out of friendship."

"It seems to me that Sasuke is jealous," he said with a smile, watching how she rolled her eyes again and let out an annoyed laugh.

"The thing is that I had a crush on Sasuke when we were in high school, but he always blew me off, and when Itachi showed some interest in me, he went berserk because he thought I would wait for his arrogant ass to make up his mind," she elaborated, balancing her pencil between two fingers and making some movements with it as if it was a scalpel. "Itachi and Sasuke have had this rivalry going on since Itachi left the Uchiha Corp to join the Akatsuki Tech Board, and I sort of was dragged in the middle of it. I admit that I had fun with Itachi, but sometimes I just wanted... freedom, you know? I'm not made to be a socialite lady, I like to curse like a truck driver and stress over a patient and dig my hands into a person's body to fix them up."

Yamato laughed at her explanation, while she grinned widely.

"Certainly that sounds like a soap opera," he teased, earning a laugh and a tongue stuck out at him. "But I'm glad you could overcome that and be the person you are now. All the hardships we have to endure in life shape our character and make us better people."

"I agree, and even now Sasuke doesn't seem to take a hint," Sakura frowned, rereading the email. "Oh look, this is one of my graduation pictures," she added, sending the picture through their connection to his laptop.

If Yamato thought she was beautiful, watching her young self with that ecstatic aura that seemed to radiate from the digital picture was nothing short of breathtaking. Her black robe with a yellow lining told him that she had graduated Summa Cum Laude. She was standing next to a grinning Naruto and three smiling women, one brunette, one blonde and the last one was purple-haired.

"Tenten, Ino and Hinata," she said, pointing at each one of the ladies. Yamato blinked in surprise when he felt her standing next to him. He was so engrossed watching the picture that he hadn't perceived her standing and walking up to him. "Naruto was so happy for me that he couldn't leave me alone."

"I've seen this lady before," he commented, pointing at Ino. She snorted and sent him a sly glance.

"She's Shiranui Ino, Konoha's Secret's favorite cover model," she said with a smirk. "Her face is on the billboards all over Konoha. She's on her final trimester though, she's expecting Genma's baby soon."

"See, I knew I wasn't that lost," he shot back. "She did a commercial with a bunch of white lilies and a bonsai tree."

"Oh Kami, and how we teased her about that!" Sakura laughed. "It was a shampoo commercial, but when it was released I was pulling a twenty-four shift at the hospital and I couldn't see it... until Naruto and Sai brought it on Sai's computer. I haven't laughed like that in years. Poor Ino though, she took a grudge against those products and got Genma to terminate that contract. It was a good thing, because I diagnosed her pregnancy a week later and ordered to stop fooling with the TV commercials."

"Something like that happened to a friend of mine," he commented, as he shuffled through his own picture folder in his laptop. Opening a photo, he pointed at a brunette woman that was smiling triumphantly under the grime that covered her face and uniform. To her side, a younger Yamato and two other males were making peace signs to the camera. Behind them, a large hangar door showed part of an airplane's wing. "This is Rin, she was the medic of our squad. Obito and Hatake-sempai were the most close to her. We were doing maneuvers over the Grass Country's territory and suddenly, Obito's plane started to fall, seemingly without control. She screeched over the radio for Obito to make him react, but we got nothing as if he were unconscious. It turned out that he was merely playing a prank on her. When Rin found out, she cursed him into next century, and when we went back to the base she punched him and kissed him in front of everyone. They got married a year later."

"What a nice story..." she said with a smile, looking at the picture. "I didn't know you were a pilot, Yamato."

"I surfed through many branches of the forces, but yes, I got to be a pilot for a while."

"And here I thought you were a peaceful naturalist," she teased, winking at him and returning to her computer. "So there is more to you than meets the eye."

"I'm a military child, what can I tell you?" he said with a furtive smirk, enjoying how she blushed when their gazes connected once more.

-X-

They had spent the days working on their own tasks, listening to music and having pleasant conversation about their pasts, having wine with their takeout food and tea with their breakfasts. He showed her how to punch the bag he used to keep himself toned, and she laughed at herself when the bag knocked her flat on her ass. She had helped him with some programs on his laptop he didn't know how to use, and he chuckled when she showed him that it was better for him to forget about said programs, promptly getting a hold of the most suitable ones for his needs through the Internet.

They had been checked on by Shikamaru everyday, who had told them that the lab was running late with the tests results but everything was okay on that field. He listened to Sakura's frustrated rant, letting her vent her anger as an annoyed Shikamaru on the phone tried to reason with the irate doctor. She watched how he had taken over the situation, promising the Nara that they weren't expecting less from the Police, just a little hurry and a bit of understanding. This made her realize something, something she was too confused and apprehensive to ponder about and try to label it with its proper name.

It took a little while and a call to the Nara Detective but they got enough clearance for them to go out of the apartment a few days later on an evening. Yamato had invited Sakura to dinner in order to celebrate that his latest article got published. She had accepted graciously, saying something about feeling like a bird in a cage from the confinement they had placed upon themselves since their visit to the Police.

But when she opened the door of her bedroom to join him on the spacious living room, he promptly forgot that it was impolite to stare. She hadn't noticed, so engrossed she was with the magazine he had given to her when she demanded playfully to read his winning article.

Black slacks and a nice emerald-green sleeveless halter blouse that had an uneven hem, almost draping on Sakura's right hip. She completed her outfit with a black and light green shawl, pulled on her shoulders almost carelessly. She also had blow-dried her long hair, and the little make up she had put on her eyes and lips did nothing but accentuate her beauty.

Finally lifting her eyes from the magazine, Sakura smiled widely, trying not to blush. Yamato had a casual air around him, with black pants and a white long-sleeved shirt that was unbuttoned at his neck. His dark brown hair was as mussed as usual, but that fact added to his casual and laidback countenance a little bit of sexiness when he chose to throw a lazy smirk at the medic.

Sakura blushed a bit more, but she ignored it. "This article is amazing!" she exclaimed, trying to save face by lowering her eyes back to the magazine. "And you wrote this two days ago! I'm impressed, Yamato, I couldn't pull a thing like this on such a short notice!"

"Everything was here," he said lightly, pointing at his head. "I visited the Memorial Park and everything came to me when I saw the willows."

"I haven't been at that park in ages, but I remember the willow trees..." she mused out loud. He nodded, grabbing his coat and handing Sakura hers.

"It's a very romantic place, if you ask me."

As she busied herself by pulling her coat on, she missed the amused smirk that graced Yamato's features as he enjoyed the light blush that graced hers when he opened the door and offered her his arm.

Officer Asuma nodded at them when they stepped out of the building, following them as he took a drag of his cigarette. Sakura threw him a reproachful glance, ever the doctor, but Yamato was more preoccupied with his surroundings. Checking every corner as they walked down the streets of Konoha, he vowed to himself that nothing would ever happen to the medic if he had a say in it.

Placing his hand on the small of her back, he led her towards a close restaurant he knew.

The owner of the restaurant was a friend of Yamato's, judging from how fondly he saluted him. Bowing gallantly to Sakura, the man brought them to a reserved booth, all the while exchanging smiles and quick, witty jokes with Sakura's date.

Both males didn't notice when the pretty doctor turned red at the thought. A date. She was on a date, with a rather handsome scientist.

As her subconscious threw a party inside her head, she busied herself with taking off her strap sandals and taking a seat on the large cushion in front of the low table, trying to be as demure as possible with both her legs flexed to a side. Sending a prayer of thanks at her forethought to wear pants instead of a dress, she lifted her gaze to Yamato, who had sat in front of her while the owner of the place retreated with a chuckle.

She lifted an amused brow. "What was that all about?"

"Don't mind him," Yamato replied with a light smirk. "Dan keeps thinking that I'm an ascetic monk, and he got really surprised with your presence."

"Oh Kami," she gasped, laughing.

"Serves him right, in my opinion," he elaborated. "He'd been dating a beautiful woman as well but apparently he's too scared to commit himself to her."

"And how my presence serves him well?"

"Because he got to see he's not the only one dating a pretty doctor, as he liked to brag."

Sakura laughed heartily at his witty comeback, while enjoying how the low chuckles coming from Yamato lightened the air even more. Examining her surroundings, she was surprised to see that they had been seated in one of the most exclusive of tables. The Indian restaurant was rather reclusive, a handful of Western-like tables and four low Eastern-styled low tables with big cushions around them, creating the perfect set for those who wanted to experiment an out of the ordinary experience while having an exotic meal.

"And how did your friend get this restaurant? It seems so different than the traditional ones."

"Dan traveled with me across the continents," Yamato explained. "When we visited Sunagakure he fell in love with the style and the colors, so he brought a cook and a few helpers back to Konoha, opening this place. Although he doesn't know a thing about Suna Indian dishes, it seems that it was a big hit among the right people."

"I've never had Suna Indian food before," the medic confided in a whisper. "I hope I don't make a fool of myself."

"You have to be careful though, the Suna Indian curry is quite spicier than ours," the biologist pointed at his menu. "Do you like spicy foods?"

"Not really," she answered with a purse of her lips. "I can take it, but it's not my coup de grâce."

"I've tried a lot of dishes, but the Chicken Tikka Masala is my favorite. It's not spicy, but not that mild either. I think that one needs to try everything at least once, for the sake of experiencing different things in life."

"I agree," she nodded as she perused the menu. "Sometimes I just want to grab a suitcase and fly to Wave to spend the week without worries. I love the beach as much as the next person, but the Wave Islands have something that makes them awesome; its mangrove forests are beautiful."

"So you've been in Wave?" Yamato asked, pleased by this new discovery of this pretty pink-haired woman, smiling when she nodded and grinned.

"My three girl friends and I escaped from the boys and the madness of college on a spring break and we had a blast," she relayed. "I got my internship in the Konoha General when I got back, but it served us to take a breather before plunging back to our respective works. Tenten got accepted in the work she had applied for, and Hinata took over the leadership of her clan's company, along with her cousin. As for Ino, she got back to modeling, meeting Genma in a photo shoot in Cloud... and like the storytellers say, the rest is history."

"I've never been in Wave before," Yamato said, "but I did get the opportunity to go to Stone. I saw the volcanoes quite closely, especially this one that was active... and erupted the next day we went there."

"Kami-sama!" she exclaimed, eyes wide with shock. "How did everything go? Did somebody get hurt?"

"Relax, Sakura, the volcano is located well away from the population. It's actually near the Rock Canyon, near the Stone border with Grass. But even back at the camp we could see the eruption in its whole glory. It's quite a fascinating sight."

"Whoa," she smiled, feeling that not only the volcanoes were the topic of conversation, especially when Yamato's dark brown eyes kept fixing themselves on her emerald orbs. She felt a light flutter on her stomach when he smiled at her after saying something amusing, adding a little more to the blush that dusted her cheeks every time he sent that smile at the doctor.

A little warning flashed at the back of her mind, but she didn't pay attention, so busy she was with the food, the company, and the talk.

-X-

The evening went without a hitch for them.

She had enjoyed herself immensely, sharing more stories with the naturalist, finding out that the man not only wasn't as sedate as he initially seemed, but also quite interesting and well-versed in the ways of the world. Sakura had seen a glimpse of that on their little chats back at his apartment, but the new location for their conversation seemed to open a new side of her gracious host, letting her see how much she had to know about him.

All in all, she had been right. There was more to Yamato that met the eye.

And that fascinated her, forgetting for a moment about the little warning that sounded in her head every single time he smiled at her, drowned by the sound of her own pounding heart.

They returned to the flat a little while after midnight, strolling casually after a well-spent evening where the wine and the fun had been quite endearing for both parties.

Sakura laughed quietly when her high-heeled sandal got stuck in the pavement, almost sending her to the ground if it wasn't for his quick reflexes. Wrapping an arm around her waist, Yamato leveled her back to her feet, finding that he really didn't want to free her from his embrace.

"Careful," he admonished lightly, lifting his eyes in alert when a car passed by the sidewalk. The pink-haired doctor noticed his reaction and smiled crookedly, finally feeling tipsy.

"I don't need to be careful if you're with me, Yamato," she whispered, training her eyes on his as she placed her hands on his coat-covered chest. "You went through so much trouble for me... and yet you're still protecting me. And I haven't thanked you enough."

"Your company was more than enough for me, Sakura," he said, not thinking that she really knew how much he meant those words. "I should thank you for this lovely evening."

They resumed their walking; his arm still perched around the beautiful medic's mid-back as she leaned closer to him, seeking his warmth as the night cooled. Yamato almost wished that the way back home was longer, so content he felt next to her.

"The night is so beautiful," she whispered. "How many stars do you think there are up there?"

"Too many to keep count," he answered lightly, knowing that he wouldn't be able to stargaze again without reminding about this little moment. "The stars are so many that not even all the leaves on all the trees in the world could match their numbers."

She laughed, feeling so content and safe at his side that she realized that the little flutter she was feeling in her stomach was actually called attraction. His smile seemed to do strange things within her, like her blood running wild in her veins and her heart beating more quickly than usual, her palms going numb with giddiness and also the way her blushes seemed to activate themselves whenever he looked directly at her eyes with those dark orbs of his.

Stepping inside the flat and not even bothering to turn on the lights, Yamato guided his guest through the spacious living area and the plant pots easily, arriving to her room in a matter of moments.

Sakura sighed deeply, raising her head to watch him. His form was dark under the moonlight that filtered through the large uncovered windows, allowing her to make out his smiling face and his deep, dark eyes.

"Thank you for everything, Yamato," she said in a murmur. "I had a really good time tonight."

"Me too," he replied smoothly, daring himself to step a little bit closer to her. "I really enjoyed myself. Thank you for accepting my invitation."

"Then you should write another article, and then we could do this again."

"Including this?" he asked quietly, lifting a hand and caressing her bare arm under the shawl. She shivered lightly and her emerald gaze seemed to darken when the air shifted to a more intimate atmosphere.

Sakura only could stare at his half-open eyes as he leaned over her, brushing ever so slowly, ever so softly, her lips with his.

Her eyes closed as his mouth opened briefly, taking her lower lip in a slow but sensual sweep that made her feel so lightheaded that all the tipsiness she was feeling thanks to the wine dissipated in a flash, leaving her rather sober but hazy with the sensation that his kiss was creating.

But something snapped within her, making her shoulders drop the shawl when her arms rose to wrap themselves around Yamato's neck, deepening the kiss.

The alarm bell that was pounding in her ears, but the kiss sent her senses into an overdrive she hadn't felt in so long that simply made her ignore everything but the biologist. Itachi had been passionate enough with her still innocent self, but there was something much darker within him that made her fear him on rare but certain occasions. But in that very moment, feeling Yamato's fingers tracing her back ever so slightly that not only goose bumps were raised in their wake, she forgot her past, she forgot her worries, focusing solely on him.

Yamato had no point of comparison when Sakura started to respond to his gentle nudging of lips. His liaisons were scarce and so sporadic that he couldn't recall when he had received such passionate response before. She was so delicious, the smooth skin of her back was quickly becoming addictive to his fingers and her mouth was triggering a heat he had forsaken a long while ago.

Allowing his senses to take over, he trailed a hand upwards to her nape, caressing her long hair as he went, his tongue teasing her own to come out to play while his other hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her tightly to his body.

Wanting more, he broke the kiss with a deep breath, to trail his lips on her chin and neck, taking in the natural scent of his beautiful doctor, a scent of spring, a scent of cherries that elicited a deep hum of approval from his throat.

She moaned lightly, receiving his lips on hers once more. The mood shifted slightly to a more passionate one, both of them kissing each other breathlessly, ardently, as her hands roamed on his strong back and his found the shorter side of her blouse hem, trailing her bare skin of her waist lightly.

Suddenly, Sakura broke the kiss with a gasp.

"Wait," she said, pressing her hands on his chest. "Wait..."

"What's wrong?" Yamato whispered in her ear, making her shiver with his husky tone. The alarm bell went off again, snapping her brain into activating her self-preservation sense.

"I'm sorry..." she murmured, backing away from him. "I... I can't..."

Taking quick refugee within the room, she closed the door firmly behind her, leaving a thoroughly baffled naturalist staring at the wooden barrier.

-X-

After taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, he had walked to the windows in order to get a grip on the recent events. He had had Sakura between his arms, kissing him back with a passion he knew was authentic, but her sudden retreat left him really confused.

She had responded with all the signals of a clearly interested participant to the little flirting game they had started a few days ago when working together in the dining table, and he had thought that she had been ready to take things further into their comfortable intimacy, but she also had managed to thwart his mental processes by fleeing to her room leaving him with a frightened excuse.

Something must have happened for her to back away like she did, he thought. The question was what.

But apparently, the answer wasn't going to come anytime soon. The muffled sound of her sobbing was proof enough that she had ran away from him due to something else.

Yamato frowned, leaning on the wall next to her door.

-XxX-

**AN:** Hi there! I'm not dead, just overworked!  
Regarding Dan's appearance, it was just for the sake of moar romance, and I bet you all know who's his pretty doctor!  
Cheers and whistles! -winks!-


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

When Sakura poked her head out of the room the next day, she didn't see Yamato around.

Breathing deeply, the doctor went to the bathroom, mulling the thoughts that kept scampering across her mind. The kiss that the biologist had stolen from her had been more pleasant than she was ready to admit.

And to be honest, she wasn't ready to face the music with him just yet.

Haruno Sakura was a successful medic, escalating through the positions at the Konoha Hospital quite easily due to her brilliant performances and gentle disposition when treating her patients. But also, Haruno Sakura was a tad bit too shy, especially regarding the whole dating market.

Itachi had been her first and only serious relationship. It hadn't been a rampaging love from both parties, despite Sakura being only a med-school student and rather innocent to the whole relationship thing and Itachi was already the President of the Uchiha Corp. Sakura hadn't knew known about this little piece of information until she was too knee-deep into their liaison, but her sense of independence served her to escape a too well in escaping a much dreaded and permanent union with the man, and Itachi really wasn't interested in a marriage with such a young woman. He had an agenda of his own.

But the time they spent together had been incredible for the overstressed medical student. Itachi managed to make her grow immensely, to make her see how much she could achieve. Back in high school, the pink-haired medic had been too shy and demure, being the target for several girls who liked to tease her about her forehead, about her intelligence, about her hair and about her hopeless crush for Sasuke.

At college, Itachi came around. She had been so taken with his cunning mind that she found herself talking well past midnight with the Uchiha, so engrossed with their bantering and philosophic bickering. He had been crucial to make in helping her overcome her self-esteem issues, gaining a sense of pride of what she did, not allowing anyone to belittle her for her smartness or for her physical appearance. She was a rare beauty, he had remarked. That was why she had let her hair grow so long and glossy.

But then the delicate crystal that was the base of their relationship shattered when she discovered the truth. He had conveniently forgotten to tell her his last name, and now she could understand why. Being such an important personality in the business world, he was bound to be followed and observed, bringing the news of his liaison to his family. Sasuke accused him of betrayal, to their mother's horror, while their father demanded him to end the relationship with the medical student he had deemed not worthy of his firstborn son.

When Itachi relayed everything to her, she had gotten so mad with him that she thought that her heart would burst inside her chest. Hurt for his deceit, no matter how much he had explained that he had lied to protect her, she had pushed him away long enough to bounce back to her feet, devoting herself to her career and achieving her degree with honors.

But then, at her very graduation party, Itachi had proposed... and she almost accepted. Almost.

The Uchiha had explained everything this time, making her realize that he really wasn't into the proposal, but his father had forced his hand. Lastly, saying no was the best answer for both of them, who could move on with their lives, but now on separate paths, as friends, as people determined not to be handled like puppets. He had left the Uchiha Corp shortly after.

Vowing to herself not to be manipulated again for outsider facts another's goals, she grabbed the reins of her life, starting her ascension through the medical circles with the passion of a true healer at heart.

All in all, Itachi had made her see a side of herself that she needed to realize in order to grow and get stronger. It shaped her, made her savor her independence.

And that was why exactly she didn't want Sasuke to get closer, because she knew what he wanted from her. A marriage without future. A liaison to get back at the brother that had left him to pursue his own goals.

Haruno Sakura was too enamored of her life as it was to be dragged again into a web of lies and society deceits. Oh no.

Stepping out of the bathroom, completely refreshed and unusually awake, she wandered to the dining table where her tablet and Yamato's were still placed on top.

A white magnolia on a little green ceramic vase next to her computer greeted her, along with a cup of still warm coffee.

Sakura had to smile at the sight.

-X-

A little note had explained Yamato's absence: he had gone to the market. Turning her laptop on and checking her emails while drinking the caffeine offer that the biologist had left for her, she noted one that made her brow arch intrigued.

Pulling her cell phone out, she turned it on and didn't pay attention to the little voicemail icon that was flashing on the screen, intent on making the call that the email prompted her to do to the Hospital.

"Hey, Shizune!" she greeted pleasantly. "What? No, I'm fine. ...What?! Why Dr. Root did that?! Oh God, Tsunade-shishou is going to kill me! Damn it, that old hawk wants me to fail at this so much, huh?"

And the conversation went on.

-X-

"Good morning," a dark-haired naturalist greeted his pink-haired guest as he entered the flat, noting that she was sitting at the table, her head cradled in the nest of her arms. She raised her face from her crossed arms, gazing at surprised dark orbs with those hollow emerald ones of hers. "Sakura?"

"My career is over," she whispered softly.

Yamato placed the paper bags carefully onto the table. "Okay, I need you to elaborate a bit more, Sakura. What happened for you to think that?"

"I have to go to the Hospital in this very moment or my mentor is going to pull me out of the speech thing. And since I'm grounded here, I can't get near the Hospital or I'm going to get myself killed, right?" she sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Tsunade-shishou sent me an email this morning, wondering where the hell I was. It turned out that Doctor Root had deemed appropriate to not? fill her in about my little ordeal with an exploding car," she explained, her emerald orbs sparkling with fury. "When I called her, Shizune, one of my colleagues, told me what Root was about to do... by letting Tsunade make a fool of herself on the Med Fed celebration, he could gain enough leverage to leave the Emergency Room and get into the Hospital Directive Board, because he wants my shishou's position."

Yamato blinked, surprised. He sure had perceived something on the medic's countenance when he had gone to the parking lot that night when Sakura's Volvo exploded, but he couldn't put a finger on it. And now he knew what it was.

"Let me call Detective Nara, maybe he can--"

"Don't bother, I already did. I am to be locked up here until they brainstorm enough to find out about my attacker."

"But that's a little unfair; did you tell him about this scheme?"

"He thinks I'm lying to get out of this mess," the medic snorted derisively, caressing the magnolia petals with her fingertip. Yamato frowned.

"We need to do something," he said. "Maybe I can distract our guards while you go to the Hospital... after our little stunt at your apartment I doubt they're going to cooperate again with us."

Sakura stared at him in surprise. She surely hadn't been expecting him to say something like that.

"But-but... how?" she stammered. "I saw through the window and Officer Asuma is across the street!"

"And Officer Hagane accompanied me to the market," Yamato added, crossing his arms in deep thought. "Get dressed, Sakura," he suddenly ordered her. "I have a plan."

He was rewarded with a large smile, as she ran to the bedroom to put on her jeans.

-X-

Sakura had to admit that Yamato's idea was kind of risky, but it could work. Going out of the building inside the laundry service's van was an adventure that she had to enjoy.

And enjoy she did, trying to control her mirth when she and the biologist hid in one of the laundry carts.

"I feel like I'm escaping from a prison!" she whispered excitedly. He grinned and nodded, a finger on his lips to quiet the medic when the van started to move.

"Let's wait until the van arrives to the cleaners, then we can go to the Hospital. It isn't that far."

"What did you told the guy to convince him?" she asked, propped against a sack of whites. Yamato smiled mischievously.

"I promised him a bottle of sake and a picture of the Sunagakure Belly-Dancers," he murmured, eliciting a choked chortle from the pink-haired doctor. "Shh, he's pretending he doesn't know we're here."

"Sorry," she breathed. "This is too much fun! I never knew that escaping from the police was so easy," she laughed again.

"I'm sure that the Detective Nara would be really pleased with that statement," he said sarcastically.

"Oh no, he will bitch and moan the whole thing until Temari shuts him up," she whispered back, giggling. "I remember when I did my Open House party at my apartment; he narrowed his eyes at poor Mizuki-san because he was 'staring at me'. Thank goodness Naruto didn't hear or a brawl would surely ensued."

And Yamato could bet the man was indeed staring at her, recalling how the landlord's eyes never left Sakura's form when she greeted him when they went to her apartment.

An idea started to form on the ex-military man's head, but he didn't tell anything to the medic. Not yet.

They arrived to the Hospital without any trouble, to Sakura's relief. She took a deep breath in front of the ER doors, controlling the frustration she felt because of the whole mess.

"Alright, I'm going in."

"Call me when you're ready to go, I can pick you up," Yamato said lightly, looking at her frowning face. She turned her eyes to his and her gaze softened.

"I think it will take a while, because the best place to speak with Tsunade-shishou is over the operation's table. But sure, I'll call you."

"Alright. Please take care, Sakura," he told her softly. "I'd hate it if you get hurt and I'm not there to protect you."

With those words, he turned and walked away, leaving a heavily blushing, surprised medic in his wake.

Willing to allow her as much space as she needed, Yamato directed his steps to the Police Precinct. His impromptu theory needed a bit of additional information and Shikamaru was the right person to answer his questions.

-X-

"Start talking, Sakura."

Said pink-haired medic flinched at her mentor's brisk voice, closing the office door behind her.

Relaying the facts that happened since she left the hospital more than a week ago to Tsunade was difficult, especially because Sakura felt that her shishou was about to blow up in a temper fit.

"Why the HELL didn't you tell me?! I've been thinking that you eloped with a man or something!"

Sakura could only gape, stunned. Tsunade sighed deeply and smirked, standing from her chair. Her apprentice hadn't even realized that she had been watching from the window when she spotted the emerald-eyed woman, talking with a brown-haired man that she had recognized instantly.

"I was only joking, Sakura. Now, be a dearie and get yourself some scrubs, I want to talk to you."

"Hai, Tsunade-shishou," the medic managed to say before leaving. She didn't notice that Tsunade had picked up the phone as soon as her prized student left her office.

Meanwhile, Sakura geared herself up for surgery. It wasn't the first time that they had brainstormed over a surgery. She only hoped that it was an easy one – she really wanted to go back to Yamato's apartment and have some tea with him and--

"Whoa," she murmured to herself. "Where the hell did that come from?"

She had stilled completely. The light blue scrubs swished against her clothes, but she didn't pay attention.

Being completely honest with herself, she admitted that she liked Yamato. And not only because he was being so kind to her by sheltering her sorry and stressed self under his very own roof. No, it was much more than that.

His conversation was actually really interesting – Itachi's topics of conversation were way deeper, but all in all he merely bickered with her because he liked to gain the upper hand in everything, trapping the infuriated med-student by turning her own statements against her. Yamato was completely different though, because he had showed a lot of respect for her opinions and sometimes supported her views of the topic they were discussing about.

And not even once, Yamato tried to change her point of view about anything.

His nature was like the plants he kept: calm and easy-going, much centered about what he did and very pleasant to be around. His deep voice and light composure was entrancing for the pink-haired doctor, especially because her own personality contrasted somehow with his.

And on top of that, his smile was starting to elicit a number of thoughts and urges within her that, to be honest, scared her... but also intrigued her.

It was just a matter of time for Haruno Sakura to like someone again, and she was starting to discover that the time had already arrived and was knocking on her door.

But, different from what she had experienced with Itachi, she actually felt those butterflies in the stomach that everyone talked about. Well, only Ino and Hinata believed that, but Sakura was having a bit of hard time trying to dismiss that idea like she always did.

Sighing deeply and pushing those thoughts in order to review them later, she went to the OR, encountering that Tsunade was already there.

"You must have a bug or something, girl," she said gruffly. "It took you longer than other times."

"I'm so--"

"FOREHEAD!! I NEED SAKURA, DAMN IT!!"

Said medic's eyes went wide with surprise. "Oh... shit."

"Well said," her blonde mentor pointed out sarcastically. "She just got here. The baby is coming upside down, he didn't move naturally so we'll have a bit of work doing her a C-section."

"Well, damn," Sakura observed, washing her hands and slipping into her medical mode. "I told her to be more careful and not to pay attention to the Braxton Hicks, but it seems that everything I say to her goes right through the other ear without being processed."

"Hey, she's your friend after all," Tsunade commented as she pushed the doors open with her shoulder, hands raised in order to be gloved by the assistant nurses.

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?!" was Ino's greeting as Sakura entered the aseptic room.

"Relax, Ino-pig, or I'll knock you out and open you like a watermelon," she snapped irritably. "I know it hurts, but we'll work to make everything worth it. Get her an epidural block and a transfusion, blood-type B."

"Sakura, seriously, you are so different when being here," Tsunade smirked as she took Ino's vitals. "It's like you developed some sort of 'operation personality' or something."

"Yeah, right," the emerald-eyed surgeon shot back with a smile as her gloved fingers went to business. "How long between the contractions, Pig? Five, maybe six minutes?"

"I'm not fucking keeping count, Forehead! The moron that was supposed to be here with me got goddamn stuck in the airport, remember?!"

Sakura's eyes softened in sympathy. "Of course, Ino-chan," she said soothingly, grasping the blue-eyed model's hand in hers. "I tell you what," she added, grinning cheerfully, "I promise you that everything if going to be alright. Just pay attention to what I say and I'll assure you we'll have your baby with you sooner than you think."

"The epidural has been administered, Sakura-san."

"Yosh," Tsunade smiled. "Now, it's baby time!"

The personal personnel in the operation room laughed, while Ino was reassured by her best friend's presence.

-X-

"Are you completely sure about this, Nara-san?"

"The theory is totally insane, but it's the best thing we have at the moment. I still think I should toss you both in a cell for sneaking out of your apartment like you did, but I understand why you did it. Sakura is still at the hospital?"

"She sent me a text message a little while ago, she was going to a surgery," Yamato explained, imitating Shikamaru's motion as the Detective stood up from his desk.

"Troublesome woman, my wife will kill me if something happens to her. Let's go, Kotetsu, Asuma."

Little did Yamato know, that sometimes crazy theories are bound to be spot on.

-X-

"Hey, Ino-chan, are you going to pay attention sometime today or I do I have to tell Izumo to take the baby to the nursery?"

"Don't you dare, Forehead," the blonde said with a teary smile. "Isn't my little one cute? He's just like Genma..."

"As long as he doesn't start to chew on toothpicks we're good," Sakura said with a smile of her own. "I'm so happy for you, Pig!"

"And now both of you need to take a rest," Tsunade ordered sternly. "We did everything to avoid a C-section, Ino, so you better take it easy."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama, thank you."

Waving at the gurney that took her friend and her son to her room, Sakura let out a deep sigh.

"We couldn't speak over Ino's screams, shishou," she grinned. "But maybe we can have our conversation as we clear the room, huh?"

"Fine by me," the busty blonde nodded as she pulled off her plastic gloves and threw them on the trash bag. "I read what you brought me on your pen-drive and I have to say, you have a pretty nice start there. The recuperation stage for traumas is always overlooked due to the old myth than the procedures take away everything. Maybe it would be appropriate if you also throw some cases we've seen about post-operational depression and delirium stages."

"Do you think it's a good idea?" Sakura asked as she moved the instruments for the nurse to throw them out in their special biohazard bag. "I mean, the conference should close up with something akin to hope, granting that some of the lectures will be rather depressing due to their topics."

"We'll discussing health care, Sakura, not proving that we are all-mighty. We need the budged budget to be expanded or the ER would be the most resented (affected?). We can't afford the Medical Federation to think that the Konoha Hospital has everything in control or they'll withdraw their financial help."

"And to think that Doctor Root actually believes you haven't done a thing for his department," Sakura sneered derisively. "He just doesn't want to see how much you're fighting to keep this place open. Without the ER, we just can't function the same way... and the interns and residents would have to be relocated."

"A Hospital without its Emergency Room will lose more patients," Tsunade intoned gravelly. "The main damage control has to be performed there; otherwise he won't know how to tackle the cases if the patient is allergic to penicillin, for example."

"That's right, shishou!" Sakura exclaimed, clapping her now bare hands together, sending her a grin as she leant over to pull off her scrubs. "I think I have the rightful approach to that speech. I'm still going for a hopeful closing, if you don't mind."

"I'm sure you'll make all those old geezers cry," the blonde laughed. "But somehow I think we need to explain the ER situation a bit better... fuck, my beeper. Wait a minute, Sakura."

"Shishou?" Sakura asked, turning around when she heard someone approaching the deserted OR.

Her landlord, Touji Mizuki, was pointing a gun at her face with a wicked smirk.

"I knew you weren't out of the city, Haruno-san."

-XxX-

**AN:** Thanks for reading! 8DDDDDDDDDD


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

_Just my luck_, Sakura thought confused and anxiously, watching how her affable – until now – landlord was pointing a really nice Beretta at her face. More specifically, at her forehead.

"Mizuki-san..." she tried, but the smirk that the man had was enough for her to rethink speaking again.

"You don't remember me, do you?" he asked with a sneer. "Your pretty pink head certainly has a selective memory. I thought you were devoted to your patients!"

After this, he let out a hollow laugh that made the medic's blood freeze in her veins.

Trust Haruno Sakura's brain to start working overtime when the time required it the most, but the shock and the gun – mostly the gun, of course – made her gray matter shut down in complete alarm. She definitely wasn't like Naruto, always so reckless that probably would have jumped at the guy to disarm him; or Sasuke, who would have made him snap by being his usual harsh, cold self; or maybe Sai, whose comments would have made the guy scream in utter frustration... or maybe he would have shot the artist to shut him up.

No, Haruno Sakura needed to proceed with caution... or the result would be disastrous.

Lifting her hands, she placed them in front of her where he could see them. "I... I'm really sorry, Mizuki-san... but I... I don't know what you are talking about..."

The man's face changed expressions so quickly that the doctor knew she had made an enormous mistake.

Stalking forward, Mizuki pushed the woman towards the tool cabinet, her weight making the cabinet scratch against the floor loudly as it impacted on the wall with a crash.

"Don't try to be stupid, Haruno-san," he admonished as he waved the barrel of the gun as if it were his chastising finger. "You just need some enlightening, that's all."

Leaning over her, he continued. "You don't have the slightest idea of how much I've anticipated this encounter, doctor. I've waited for so long now..."

_His pupils are dilated_, the medic noted, trying to fight her own apprehension as the cold metal of the gun touched her cheek. Maybe he was under the effect of some drug or stimulant.

"And still, you don't remember," the man said in a remorseful tone. "How could you have forgotten, _doctor_?"

"I... I don't know what you mean, Mizuki-san..." she murmured, swallowing the bile that suddenly rose up to her throat.

"LIAR!" he screamed, pulling her by her shirt and flailing her to the wall across the OR. Her body landed on the floor with a painful thud. "You are so full of yourself, Haruno Sakura! Stupid medic that didn't know shit before taking over a procedure, not even realizing THAT THERE ARE HUMAN LIVES ON THE FUCKING TABLE!"

Sakura groaned softly as she tried to stand, only managing to sit with her back to the wall.

"What is it, _doctor_? Feeling a little pain?" Mizuki snarled savagely, swinging the gun frantically in his madness. "THAT IS ONLY A LITTLE BIT OF WHAT I'M GOING TO DO TO YOU, BITCH!"

To say that Sakura was utterly terrified by now would be a complete understatement.

"Mizuki-san, please..." she tried again, even when her medical gut told her that the guy was about to do something really bad.

"Oh, you are pleading!" he screamed. "EVEN WHEN I PLEADED YOU NOT TO TREAT MY LITTLE BOY AND YOU DIDN'T LISTEN!"

The pink-haired female's eyes widened in surprise, but still her mind was running in circles.

"Don't look so surprised, doctor," he sneered in contempt. "Let me refresh your memory. You treated a boy during your residence here. My son, Haruno-san."

"A... boy?" she repeated dully, noticing that she must have hit her head with the wall when he flung her. The man's features scrunched in uncontained pain.

"Yes, you conceited, stupid nurse," Mizuki hissed, his eyes wild with rage. "You treated my asthmatic boy and gave him a fatal dose of bronchodilators! YOU KILLED MY SON, HARUNO-SAN!"

"I didn't..." she started to defend herself, when her memory clicked.

It wasn't an easy case, especially for the newest ER Attending Haruno Sakura. Her promotion was so recent that she still kept her Resident ID as she went about her patients of the day. A hysterical father had brought his kid to the Emergency Room because the boy couldn't stop breathing harshly thanks to his asthma. A dose of bronchodilators was mandatory to ease the poor boy's suffering, but it turned out that the kid was allergic to penicillin, and the specific medication her staff had administered had been mixed with that drug.

The bronchodilators relaxed the boy's airways so much that he had stopped breathing. His heart gave out a little later, due to his allergy to the antibiotic.

It was an awful mistake. A mistake that prompted her to appeal to Tsunade, in order to reform and revise all the medications of the ER before more emergencies arrived. Everything could have been avoided if the father had warned the staff about his son's allergy, but he didn't say anything in the middle of his frenzied bout of anxiety.

Sakura only could watch when her blonde mentor had broke the news about his boy to the father, who had collapsed on a nervous breakdown so critical that he had to be admitted into the psychological ward for several days, until his brother came for him.

Now she remembered. Mizuki had changed so much with the years that she simply didn't recognize him. Hollow lines on his face and many, many white hairs now were on his head, when she had seen him with a nice, light blue mane when he first came through the Emergency Room doors.

His eyes though, told a different tale. His eyes held so much hate and rage at the moment that the medic felt her body trembling, remembering how the man had tried to break the hold that Izumo had on him, trying to attack her. He had screamed his throat raw, blaming her for the death of his son.

A death that could have been prevented, but life just didn't allow it to happen.

"Mizuki-san," she spoke slowly, carefully. "I didn't kill your son. It was just an unfortunate accident, a mistake we all committed."

The man laughed derisively. "Are you still trying to convince me that you are innocent? I WAS THERE, YOU BITCH. YOU KILLED MY SON AND I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES!"

"We didn't, Mizuki-san," she murmured, shaking her head sadly. "The medication was administered like we always do in those cases..."

"LIES!" the man screamed out of his mind, clenching the gun in his hand. "YOU WERE THE ONE THAT KILLED MY BOY! I SAW YOU INJECTING THE DRUG IN HIM!"

The personality in Sakura's mind, the inner persona that always took over when she needed to be calm and collected, chose that very moment to appear.

"You are _wrong_, Mizuki-san, _you_ were the one that killed your own son. _You_ withheld information about his allergy and his condition, and _you_ didn't tell us. You never told us that _he was allergic to penicillin_, and the boy died because you were too busy fussing around him like a mother hen!"

Sakura's words struck deep at the man. His eyes shrunk in surprise, taking two steps back as if trying to avoid the psychological blow that his mind just had taken.

"And just to let you know," she continued, her temper kicking in. "The autopsy revealed that your little boy had leukemia. _Leukemia_, Mizuki-san. How can you fight something like that if you didn't pay attention to your son's health?!"

She was so tired of being a freaking damsel in distress, goddammit!

"No... that is not true..." the landlord started to ramble, whispering uncontrollably. "My boy was a healthy kid! He always ate his vegetables and he went for walks with me, and he played soccer at school and he was so sweet, my little boy..."

His gaze rose to meet her frustrated and scared emerald orbs. "You are not going to blame me, Haruno-san; you already went too far by telling me that my Daichi had leukemia! YOU ARE SO FULL OF LIES, LIKE ALL DOCTORS!"

"No, it is the truth! Daichi had leukemia and you never knew because you were already grieving him! He would have died either way because his disease was incurable!"

The man started to cry, his eyes open and unfocused. Sakura looked around, trying to get up and locate something in order to knock the man out before something bad happened--

"You know what, Haruno-san?" he said calmly, turning his wild gaze on her. "You have done enough now."

Quickly raising the hand with the gun, the grieving father of a long lost boy fired the weapon at the pink-haired medic, the echo of the firearm reverberating through the Operation Room.

-X-

Yamato's blood ran cold when he heard the gunshot.

_Sakura_.

He sprinted down the OR Department hallway, the blonde Hospital Director and the policemen hot on his heels.

_Don't let her go_, he pleaded to whoever was listening to his anxious praying on his mind. _Please_.

-X-

"You are such a fucking liar, bitch," Mizuki rambled, too much engrossed in his madness to notice anything else but his prey. "My boy didn't have leukemia. For Kami's sake, that's _ridiculous_! My Daichi was a healthy boy until you and your stupid medical staff came around."

Sakura tried to overcome the pain of her injury to answer him. Breathing slowly and clutching her hand to the wound, trying fruitlessly to remain cognizant.

"Mizuki-san," she panted, clenching her eyes shut when the man grabbed her by her shirt and hauled her into a sitting position against the wall. Teeth gritting, she let out a loud pained moan when his hand brushed the opening that the bullet had left in her body. "He was dying. Your baby boy was dying in front of your very eyes. You should have noticed his fevers, his paleness, his sudden loss of weight... did you ever notice his gums bleeding?"

The old man started to spout gibberish, screaming. She felt him cocking the gun again, but suddenly her mind wasn't exploring the possibility that she might die on this day.

No.

Sakura was regretting deeply not telling Yamato about her wariness about relationships, opening herself to him and trying to trust the man. She was too scared of the 'what if' that she almost completely missed how sweet was the man with her.

His smile and easy-going character and dazzling personality were more than enough for her. She didn't need a multimillionaire heir of a technology company; she didn't need someone to shelter her from all evil and foes of the world when she was perfectly capable of defending herself.

She needed a person who respected her and could provide her with some stability for her frantic lifestyle.

The pink-haired doctor was losing blood rather quickly now. The bullet must have punctured a main artery or vein, she mused, trying to keep her eyes open.

"Aren't you listening to me, bitch?!" Mizuki was yelling at the top of his lungs now. "How does it feel to sink without someone helping you, huh?! HOW DOES IT FEEL TO DIE?!"

A choked curse that ringed throughout the Operation Room and another trigger of the gun were missed by the medic in state of shock, but she opened her eyes when a pair of hands –gentle hands, warm and strong– went to hold her when her body started to slip from the wall.

"Sakura! Sakura, wake up!"

"I'm..." she murmured, allowing another pair of hands to peruse her wound, but the action made her flinch nonetheless. "I'm conscious..."

"Thank Kami!" exclaimed a feminine voice she knew too well. "Did he hurt you in another place?"

"N-No... only the sh..."

"Relax, Sakura. Everything will be alright now."

Sakura smiled faintly, the deep male voice etched with worry and deep affection brought calmness to her shocked state.

"Yamato..." she whispered, smiling before finally falling unconscious.

-X-

"And then Yamato-san here knocked the guy down with a serum stand. I knew those wooden poles were more useful than having them around just for surgery!"

"It was nothing," the kind voice said with a tinge of embarrassment. "Anyone could have done it."

"But the thing is that _you_ were the one who did it, Tenzou-san," Shikamaru pointed out from the window. "I only distracted the guy and you got him. You were in the army, am I right?"

"Yeah... the Special Ops Division."

"Whoa. Now I won't be worried for Sakura's safety ever again. With you protecting her I can sleep the whole night."

"Mhmm..." the person in the bed groaned, regaining consciousness slowly.

The conversation woke her senses, but she didn't want to open her eyes just yet. Someone was holding her hand, caressing her fingers slowly with a thumb. It was such a soothing caress, something so sensible and real that she let out a deep breath, basking in the presence and the strength that radiated for her.

"She's coming around..." a feminine voice informed. "Sakura?"

"You guys speak too loud," she retorted weakly, opening her eyes with a tired smile.

Shizune and Shikamaru smiled right back at her, but her eyes searched for the dark orbs they wanted to see.

"Hey," Yamato greeted her softly, squeezing her hand in his. "How're you feeling?"

"Like shit, but I'm sure that everything will be okay," she murmured, grasping his enclosed fingers. "Where's shishou?"

"I'm here, honey," Tsunade stepped closer, with a mild frown on her features. "You gave me the scare of my life, the bulled got right in the middle of the lateral thoracic artery. Thank goodness it wasn't the brachial or you wouldn't be awaking so soon."

"For a moment... I thought it did hurt me pretty badly... there was so much blood I thought about a rupture of the basilic vein."

"And now we can rest assured that she'll be okay if she's talking medical nonsense," grumbled Shikamaru, making Shizune laugh.

"When I saw him yelling at you I was about to knock him up myself, but then I saw the gun and I went for help," Tsunade explained, filling the gaps. "I met up with these guys just when I was getting into the OR Station, but then we heard the shot and I feared the worst."

"I feared the worst myself," added Yamato in a whisper to her ear. "I was so afraid I wasn't going to get you. I'm sorry, Sakura. I should have been here with you."

Her eyes slid to meet his. "And I'm sorry for being such a pushy brat," she whispered back. "This is my fault; we shouldn't have left your apartment..."

"Don't blame yourselves," Tsunade countered the both scientists gruffly, flicking one of her pigtails to her back. "I think it was meant to be. Sakura, you have a week to rest and not overdo it until the Med Fed celebration. I'm sure you'll stun those old geezers with your speech."

"So I'll get to present it anyway?!" she asked, completely awake now and trying to sit up without thinking, only to have Yamato pushing her down on the bed gently but firmly. Tsunade sighed.

"Yeah, but I repeat: do not overdo it or you will face my wrath, not only your boyfriend's. Now if you excuse me, I have a Dr. Root to grill until he's crispy."

Sakura, still blushing for her mentor's snarky comment, turned to see Shikamaru, who scratched his head, somewhat uncomfortable.

"So the guy, Touji Mizuki, is going to be locked up in Oto's Asylum for Dangerous Criminals," he relayed. "Being in the crime scene and having the weapon in his hand when we busted him was more than enough for the District Attorney. And if it isn't, we got more than enough evidence in his apartment, including a nice box of C4, most probably used to blow up your car."

"What about the man that tried to steal her purse?" Yamato asked from his seat next to Sakura's bed. The Detective shook his head.

"Nothing yet, but if there's a connection between the two I will find it. He won't bother you again, Sakura. I promise."

"Thank you, Shika," she said, grateful for having such a supportive friend. "I'll have to ask you one more thing, though..."

As she expected, the Detective sighed heavily and fixed her with a lazy glare. "What now, Pinky?"

"Don't tell Naruto and the guys just yet."

Yamato smiled, amused, at the Nara's quite audible groan.

-X-

"And for the last presentation of tonight, one of the most brilliant surgeons of the Konoha General Hospital – excellent grades in med-school, a residence taken in one of the most demanding departments in the whole complex and an exceptional performance in every procedure she had performed. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you Doctor Haruno Sakura."

The pink-haired woman walked decisively to the podium.

Once in front of it, she took a deep breath and placed the paper sheet on the wooden surface, only to step out and give the audience a full view of her red dress... and her sling.

Clearing her throat, she started.

"Sometimes, even the most exceptional medics can make a mistake."

The hall grew silent at this statement. Locating her companion for the evening and reveling inwardly of his soft and encouraging smile, she continued.

"When a medic makes a mistake, a human life takes the consequences. That is why I have this right now," she said, placing a hand on her pristine bandaged shoulder. "This is something that a person that took the medical vow to attend and help people in pain must not forget. We are not Gods. We are humans. But with every patient, we need to become Gods in order to give everything to save them."

Aware that she had the entire attention of the conference attendees, Sakura returned to the podium, starting her speech.

"Sicknesses, injuries, wounds. We have seen them all, am I right? We operate just to get rid of the problem at hand. If it's the heart, we just replace it for another and problem solved. But what about the patient that was brought back from that uncertain state that lies between life and death? What about those who have to cope and learn to live with the fact that they probably would not resume their normal lives due to what they have lost? I've seen people trying to understand that their legs weren't working anymore because the spinal injury they had was too severe. How can a person grasp the enormous concept that they will be crippled for the rest of their lives?"

Sakura sighed into the microphone.

"Even if we know the procedures to get rid of the pain that our patients are feeling, we are overlooking one phase that is rather important. How can a person with a cast walk without crutches? Ladies and gentlemen: _We are the crutches_. We have to see them regain the strength to tackle their life and reclaim it after our patients' health ordeals. Sometimes it's about the disposition, I'm sure everyone here had heard of bedside care more than once. Let me tell you something, this trick does not work only with children. All our charges in the Konoha Hospital are being monitored closely after a surgery or an emergency procedure."

Tsunade smiled wryly from her seat when Sakura tapped her own injury lightly.

"And it only took the death of a young boy to make us realize this."

-X-

"You were incredible up there," her date whispered to her with one of his fond smiles.

"I'm glad to hear it," she murmured as he led her to the exit, draping his own tuxedo jacket over her shoulders. "I thought I was being too harsh."

"No, I think it was the right amount of harshness to make the Federation to grow some guts, actually."

"Are you sure you want to go to the rascals' reunion? That is going to be madness in a nutshell."

"Trust me, Sakura, I've seen worse," he said, kissing his pink-haired medic lightly on her lips when he helped her climb into the car. "Besides, I think it's time for me to meet them."

"I can't wait for you to take those words back after tomorrow!" she laughed tiredly, placing her head on his shoulder, as his hands drove them securely and safely back to the flat. "Damn, I'm so tired..."

"It's okay, Sakura," he said, caressing her cheek without turning his gaze from the road. "You are safe."

-XxX-

**AN:** And there you go! Yamato got to play the hero part, saving the day, getting his chick back and success!! 8D

All hail to my beloved beta Sometime.Usagi for her awesome work!

Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter ****7**

"Sakura-chan!"

Of course, the loud yell was heard by all the visitors in the large garden. The Konoha Memorial Park was as green as ever, its glistening grass short and taken care of. The willow trees were as magnificent as Yamato had described them in his magazine article.

And coincidentally, the annual gathering of her friends was under them.

The pink-haired doctor smiled at Naruto as he came bouncing to greet her. Dressed in jeans with a white tank-top, she avoided the blond's enthusiastic attempt to hug her by hiding behind her companion.

True to his nature, Naruto pouted at the sudden evasive movement.

"I know you want to hug me, but I'm still sore in my shoulder, Naruto," she explained, showing him the bandage. "Please be careful?"

Properly warned, the man performed his greeting carefully, but the woman heard her companion's light chuckle nonetheless as Naruto, after breaking the hug, lifted her lithe figure by her waist and twirled her, calling the attention of all their friends with her surprised squeal.

"Put me down, Naruto!!" she screamed, laughing. "I'm going to be sick!"

Placing her down again, he led them back to the gathering that was in full swing over the red and white squared-printed blankets. Hinata had really outdone herself this year, the doctor whispered to her amused date.

All her friends greeted Yamato kindly but with a little bit of caution. He took all the curious looks in stride, not allowing his pleasant smile to slip from his face as Sakura went to hug Sasuke and Sai, but noting how she kept the embraces short and returned to his side swiftly, as if not to make the wrong impression.

Yamato knew, by the hidden frown on the Uchiha's face, that she had broken the news of their relationship to the new President of the Uchiha Corp. He had seen her the day before typing an email before dinner with a little smile. But the naturalist had to admit that the dark-haired man was taking his defeat with dignity.

Finally sitting down next to a blonde half model, half proud mother that was currently cooing at her baby while bickering softly with her model-of-a-husband, Sakura finally allowed her chest to heave a deep sigh of content.

"So, Forehead!" Ino greeted her with a dazzling smile. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your knight in shining armor?"

Said medic's cheeks dusted with a light blush, but she laughed embarrassedly all the same. "Pig! Would it kill you to be more careful? Your baby it's about to topple over your chest!"

"Oh shi--Genma! Here, hold him for a minute while I grill my doctor!"

"Hell no!" Sakura laughed again, scooting to Yamato's side as his arm went to wrap at her waist. "You stay far away from me, you underwear model!"

Everybody laughed at Ino's fuming, but a ring of the medic's cell-phone cut the joke short. Taking the little device from Yamato's hand, her emerald eyes widened in surprise when she saw the number.

"Oh my! Look who's calling!" she said in a sing-song with a grin, flipping the phone open. "Hey, you! I haven't heard you in so long, I was thinking you forgot about me!--What? Nah, I'm fine. It was just a big mess but thankfully everything was worked out by the Police and all--Yeah, I heard you were pretty damn busy lately... where are you?--Whoa, I've never been in Grass Country!--...Who the hell told you that?!--Don't you dare lie to me, you had him investigated!?--Oh please, he couldn't kill a fly and you know it!--...Well, yeah...--Yes, Itachi, he makes me happy..." she finished with a smile directed at Yamato.

"...Is that my brother?" Sasuke hissed, narrowing his eyes. Sakura rolled hers and kept talking.

"So when are you coming back to Konoha?--Really?--Then, that's a pity, I wanted to see you before my trip--Yeah, I'm going to Sunagakure with Yamato, he's going to take--Hahaha! Are you jealous?--Nah, it's fine. I was just teasing you--Oh, alright... say hello to Kisame for me, okay?--Hai hai, I'll take care of myself, you control freak, but you gotta promise you will take care as well, Itachi--Yeah, I will. Thanks for calling, sweetie. Goodbye--Oh, shut up," she cut it with a giggle, hanging up.

"I can't _believe_--" Sasuke started, but Naruto cut him off as he shouted in glee.

"Hey are you guys going to Suna?! At this time of the year when everything is so hot over there?"

"Well, I have an assignment over there and I asked Sakura to accompany me," Yamato answered lightly, pocketing her cell inside his jacket. "And since she has two weeks off, it seemed like a good idea."

"It totally is," Temari piped in, raising her glass of soda. "I'm from Sunagakure, and there's nothing like watching the sunrise in the desert. I guess that's why my brothers don't want to move here; even the harshest of the landscapes has certain beauty, or so that's what Gaara says."

"My best guess is that he just doesn't want to leave the belly-dancers," Naruto laughed. "Wasn't he involved with one of those?"

"Last time I talked to him he was getting serious with her," Temari answered with a sly grin. Shikamaru, at her side, rolled his eyes but smirked in amusement. "Kankurou says that he never saw our little brother so taken with a girl."

"Gaara is the owner of Shukaku Corp," Sakura whispered to Yamato, nodding when he pointed at an iced tea bottle. "He is actually Sasuke's main business rival, how about that?"

"I can totally see the connection," he murmured as he filled two glasses and gave one to her. "I have to admit that some of their products are more well-developed."

"Sasuke is still learning," she commented as they watched the object of their conversation standing up to take a private call. "Itachi told me that they were on 'speaking terms' again, but it's a long way for them to reach an understanding, for the sake of their family."

"And what did he say about me? He had me investigated, huh?"

Sakura blushed in embarrassment. "Yeah... but it appears that he approved of you. I still can't believe it, but he actually said that... um..."

"Come on," he prompted, brushing a long lock of her roseate hair to her back. She shot him a shy look.

"He said that he's 'quite satisfied with my choice of partner'," she said, lowering her tone to imitate her friend's flat and detached tone and giggled. "So the Special Ops, eh?" the medic teased, changing the subject quickly. "You're so full of surprises, Yamato."

"You should know that by now," he fired back with a tilt of his head and an amused smirk that made her blush again.

"... Hey! What are you talking about?!" Naruto shouted, crawling to the newest couple. "Sakura-chan! Why you have to be with him? I don't trust him!"

"NARUTO!" she yelled irritably. "You really are pushing your luck, baka!"

"Come on, Sakura, you have to tell us what happened!" Tenten clapped her hands together with an eager grin. "What was all that about a psycho tailing you?"

The biologist and the medic looked at each other. "Well..." she started, feeling is hand covering hers gently. "I met him one night when a thug tried to steal my red purse."

"Oh no!" Hinata exclaimed softly. Sakura nodded with a grimace.

"Yeah, but luckily he got his head batted out of the park by Yamato," she completed with a stunning smile.

"I've never heard of someone taking down a mugger with a baseball bat," Genma pointed out, raising his brow. Yamato just shrugged.

"What can I say? I saw a beautiful lady in danger. I wasn't about to allow him to hurt her in front of my eyes," he said, plucking Sakura's hand from her bandaged arm. "Does it hurt?"

"Naw, it just itches so damn much," she complained, wiggling her arm. "Can you pass me a new bandage?"

"Let me help you," he murmured, pulling out a new roll of sterilized bandage while she took off the old one. Their friends watched in amusement how the man wrapped her shoulder neatly but gently, paying a close eye to her closing wound. "It looks better than yesterday."

"It's thanks to Hinata and her Hyuuga ointment," Sakura commented with a smile directed at her pale-eyed friend. "I'm almost sure it won't leave a scar. You've got to tell me what's in that ointment, Hinata."

"I'll ask my father if we can disclose that secret to you, Sakura-chan," smiled the demure woman next to the boisterous blond that seemed too shocked with Yamato's current task.

"What happened to the psycho bomber?" asked Sai suddenly. Shikamaru sighed heavily and answered with his usual lazy tone.

"He's in Sound's Asylum," he stated. "The Judge agreed with the DA that he's too insane to be left in a regular prison. We didn't find any connection between him and the mugger, but both of them are locked up anyway."

"And we are leaving for Suna!" the pink-haired woman cheered, making her companion let out a low chuckle. Naruto seemed disgruntled with the couple's dynamics but another entrance interrupted their mirthful banter. Sakura's eyes widened in delight while Yamato's widened in shock, standing up to greet the late arrival.

"Sorry I'm late--" Kakashi started, but Sakura and Naruto beat him to the punch.

"Liar!!" they chanted together, to everyone's amusement. Kakashi had the gall to look confused, but Sakura crossed her arms with a little flinch.

"Don't start with your lame excuses again, Kakashi!" she mock-admonished him. "And I'm still waiting for the TV shows you were going to lend me, you know."

"Why don't you ask your companion about it... or should I say, my ex-comrade?" the silver-haired man grinned sarcastically as his eyes slid to Yamato. "_Kouhai_, I really didn't expect you to be around my former student."

"...He taught _you_?" the biologist asked in bewilderment to the medic, to which she nodded with a grin.

"He was our Literature teacher in our freshman year in college," she relayed with a laugh. "After school, we bumped onto him when we were at a movie theater, and Naruto, Sasuke and I finally managed to pull him out of his shell," she added, sharing Kakashi's smile.

"And he was my superior in the Special Ops, he's Obito's best friend," said Yamato. Sakura gasped in shock.

"You were in the army, Kakashi-sensei?!" she asked, astonished. Said man nodded with a smirk.

"For a while, yes," he said noncommittally. "So what are you two up to? I've heard that you're going to Sunagakure. Another tree-viewing trip, Tenzou?"

"You can say that, sempai," Yamato said with a devious smirk that his medic didn't miss. "Stone's National Geographic wanted me to do a couple of shows with Suna's lifestyle, and I'm only too happy to go back to the road."

"... Yamato, aren't you 'the Mokuton'?" Sakura asked with a giddy grin. He nodded. "Gah! Why didn't you tell me?! I love that show!"

"I thought you had recognized me," he shot back good-naturedly. "But time passed and I kind of forgot. And when I saw a couple of DVDs back at your apartment, I supposed you just didn't mention it."

"Oh, please, you know my memory," she said with a sheepish smile. "I only remember medical procedures and how to tie my shoe laces properly."

"Then I'd have to make sure you remember something more," Yamato whispered in her hear, earning a fit of flustered giggles from the beautiful doctor. A pouting Naruto pointed his finger at the biologist, his azure eyes blazing with childish annoyance.

"Stop wooing Sakura-chan!" he yelled. "I've seen through your mask, you only want to get into her pants!"

Almost all of the people present started laughing loudly at his outburst, to the medic's chagrin. But certainly, she didn't expect Yamato to direct a rather dark and scary face to her blond brother, who squeaked and hid behind Hinata.

"I want to protect her," he told Naruto firmly. "I've spent enough time with Sakura to realize how precious she is," he added, tracing a finger on her bandaged shoulder lightly.

"Besides, Naruto," she piped in with a teasing but fond tone, "If he only wanted to get into my pants he wouldn't have saved me when Mizuki-san tried to shoot me again. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Yamato... and for that, I'm really grateful."

"You are very welcome," the naturalist answered, matching her smile with one of his.

Of course, they knew they had a long way before them, but as long as he stayed by her side, understanding her need of being independent as much as she understood his secretiveness, everything could be worked out just fine. She was willing to accept him and his silences and habits, and he was willing to accept _her_ and her moody temper and hectic schedule. Yamato was more than a sturdy foundation for her flying kite; he was also the perfect balance she was looking for so long.

And it didn't hurt that his kisses were so good, either, she thought with a thrilled smile.

By accompanying him to the desert, she would get the chance to experience the nomadic life he'd had before they met. Sakura wasn't dedicated to those cheesy romances that Ino and Hinata seemed to like so much, but watching Yamato laughing and interacting with her friends, and also feeling his arm snugly curled around her waist, she realized that sometimes, those kinds of romances had a tinge of truth. Just a _little_ bit, though.

And to the always rushed, hardworking medic, it meant the world.

A world he was willing to show her.

-XxX-

_- Tenna' ento lye omenta -_

-XxX-

**A/N:** And I'm done, thank the Gods! Did you guys like it?  
I loved writing this for Sometime.Usagi, who also was kind enough to beta the entire story for me. A little bit of soap-opera romance doesn't hurt, amirite?. ;D

Cheerios and thanks for reading!. :D


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